One Foot
by CursedRedRose
Summary: One foot with the living, one foot with the dead. That is how Adrian Shephard became Kain after he was resurrected and why he is on a mission to wipe corruption from the world. It is this mission that sends him on a colliding path with the Teen Titans but what hope can there be for someone who feels more connected to the dead than the living? OC/Raven pairing
1. Chapter 1

_This is a brand new experience for me as I am writing with an OC character courtesy of CrazyStonerStories (thanks again!). Please enjoy and leave a review!_

It is cold, dark and raining when my target finally appears. He had entered the swanky hotel, a real nice place done up in white and gold with curly letters and five proud stars over the wide glass doors, for his business meeting with his cronies over four hours ago and I'd been watching the windows that whole time, watching the shadows move as the men in suits shook hands and laughed over whatever they had just agreed. I wasn't in the most comfortable position as I laid on my front on the sloping roof of another nearby building, rain pouring over me like a freezing shower and making my fingers feel numb but I wasn't going to move. I had spent a while tracking this guy and honestly, this was nothing new to me. He was going to get what was coming to him, no matter what the elements threw at me.

He was standing on the front steps, under a little ledge that protected him from the worst of the downpour as he made a phone call with a blank face. He looked like any typical businessman; wrinkly skin like parchment, small eyes like coal, hair like a puddle of oil ready to slip from his scalp and a moustache like a fine toothcomb on his upper lip. His name is Ronald L Sharp and he's one of the big names at a company called Grancheva Steel, a sister company of the contractors that built the Gotham Hotel. I grit my teeth in the darkness and wriggle a little to adjust my grip on my M24 sniper rifle, remembering everything my father taught me. This guy is probably one of the most corrupt people working right now, in charge of a lot of money that seems to vanish into thin air, money swiped from under the noses of the workers they employ, money that could have helped them in their times of need. I'm really going to enjoy this.

I can hear a flurry of voices behind me but one voice slices through them all. "Looks like you finally found him then," The familiar, drawling, exasperated monotone tells me. I can feel the shadow on my shoulder and in my mind, I picture him twiddling his long fingers like white piano keys over each other. "It took you long enough."

"Cut it out, will you?" I say as I ready myself. "I'm on it already." I hear him chuckling as I focus back on my target who is still talking on the phone. He has this big smile on his face, he must be talking to a woman and he's going to get laid. I wonder who it is-his wife, his mistress or the lingerie model he has recently been visiting without the knowledge of the other two. I know this because of the voices behind me, the souls of the dead who track down my targets and tell me everything I need to know about them plus a few little details I don't. I don't get to pick my targets, they do and I just pull the trigger. I spend my days in the company of the dead and as for Death himself? He's the one who's eagerly leaning over my shoulder, sort of like a little angel/demon type of scenario but I haven't figured out which one he is yet.

"Are you going to do it yet?" He muses next to my ear, a bit of amusement creeping into his voice as my target moves a step forwards to hold out his hand and test the rain. "You have a perfect kill shot."

"I don't want a perfect kill shot." I say and I can almost hear his smile. The voices behind me go silent as I steady myself. I know exactly where I'm aiming; a little spot just to the left of his heart, enough to kill him but it will take a few minutes. Just what I want.

As he moves backwards and puts his weight back on his heel, I fire. The rifle bucks in my hands like it's doing a celebration dance and I can smell the raw scent of its grease. In that moment, it's like a part of me, another limb as we do our deadly work. His body is knocked back into the wall, almost propped up against it as he cries out and writhes in pain, his hands pressed to his chest in a feeble effort to stop the bleeding. Red runs down his chest in an almost luminous colour. It is so bright it looks almost like paint, not real at all. The moment the bullet enters him, I'm up and scaling down the building, making my way across the road and over to him whilst Death follows me without a word.

The dying man's eyes latch onto me as I approach him and they widen when they see the gun I'm swinging by my side in a relaxed manner. My other gun, a classic M1911A1, is slung across my back, he can probably catch it peeping over my shoulder. I know what his eyes are seeing; a tall skinny youth who looks like he should be in a hospital. I know I look sickly. My skin is bone white and almost looks stretched over my bones, my eyes are light brown but sunken into my head like my skull is trying to reclaim them, my frame is gaunt like I'm a skeleton already. My hair is black and scruffy but he won't see that under my black balaclava that's emblazoned with a skull. No, all he will see of my face are my eyes piecing into his own and my mouth as it twists into a smile. He already knows who I am, the whole city does, even if anyone who has seen me in the flesh hasn't lived long afterwards.

"K-kain…" He gasps out in horror as I crouch in front of him. I'm grinning now, I can't help it. There's an immense satisfaction in my work, ridding the world of corrupt creatures like him who only want power and money. They don't care how many people they have to step on to get there and so I don't care when I step on them and grind them into the dirt a little bit.

"That's my name, don't wear it out." I say and his expression only gets more fearful. Death is treading on the hem of his coat and he can probably see him now, it shouldn't be too much longer. The scarlet stream from his chest is thinning and the light is fading from his eyes. His jaw moves but no sound comes out. He is beyond that now and his last words were my name. Fitting really.

I stand back up and turn my back as Death does his work. I have no interest in how he collects his souls or what he does to them. That's his business not mine. That's how we work, him and I. He does his thing and I do mine.

"You don't have much time." He tells me a little urgently once he's finished. The body on the ground is now just a powerless shell, like a fine clock without a battery to make it tick. "The police will be here soon and then the Titans. We have to go."

"What if I don't want to?" I say, turning back to face him in all his black smoky glory. I hold up my rifle and inspect it, my eyes blazing. "What can they do to me? I can communicate with the dead, for pity's sake, I'm not afraid of them."

I walk away briskly down the dark street, the rain still pounding at my body in thick wet sheets like I'm being slapped repeatedly. Nobody is watching, not even the moon as I leave the scene. The buildings rise up either side of me but I keep my gaze straight ahead as the voices begin to bubble back up. Behind me I hear Death sigh as he follows me, keeping a little distance as we stride away but not so much that I can't hear him when he next quietly speaks.

"Maybe you should be."


	2. Chapter 2

_Hi again! Here's the new chapter though this one is from Raven's point of view. I'm thinking I'm going to alternate between the two of them though I will probably write more from Kain's side as I find it comes more naturally to me which isn't at all disturbing… anyway please review and I hope you all enjoy it!_

"How could he have escaped again?!" Robin slams his fists into the keyboard in front of him, ignoring Cyborg wince behind him. "That's the eighteenth murder we've had in the last two months and we still don't have anything to go on!"

I watch with a neutral expression as our leader fumes at the fuzzy computer screen, his mask twitching with his frustration. Although he and I are similar in that we each tend to bury our emotions, with Robin some are more susceptible to rising to the surface. It's when he's like this that we all start to worry about him, the point where even his beloved alien princess can't distract him. We're all standing a step back from the computer and the blurry dark image that he is so intently fixed on. I look over at Starfire and I can see the concern building in her emerald eyes, feel it rolling from her in waves as it mixes with everyone else's. None of us want this Kain character to become a second Slade.

"The CCTV is hardly nothing." Cyborg grumbles as he removes the keyboard from Robin's reach and taps in a few keys. "We know from it the time and place of the most recent death, that's something. And we know from this that it was this Kain dude…"

"We already knew that when we got to the scene!" Robin explodes. "It was the exact same as all his other killings! And we know nothing else about him! We only barely know what he looks like and why he's doing this! We are no closer to him than we were when his first victim died!" He was now hissing through his gritted teeth as he stared at the frozen murky image on the screen as if through sheer willpower and fury, he could bring it into focus.

"I don't think that's true." I say and they all turned to look at me. I pulled my hood down and stepped towards the computer. "There's a definite pattern in the killings, all his victims are the same kind of people. They are all high up in some company or another, they all are loosely linked to the construction industry and every single one of them was corrupt."

"So the guy has something against corruption? That could be anyone still, who doesn't hate it?" Robin said pointedly.

I roll my eyes. "Does anyone else remember this?" I say as I swipe the keyboard away from Cyborg and start typing. A newspaper article flashes up and I step back to let them all see it. They cringe at the picture of a crushed building that came with it as I carry on talking. "A couple of months ago, this hotel collapsed due to structural issues that had been made during its construction. It was called the Gotham Hotel, it was one of the finest there and it had been standing for years but nobody realised the extent to which it was damaged and by then it was too late." I cast my eyes away as Cyborg clicked again and more pictures came up, some showing the behemoth of the hotel as it fell, the snapshots freezing it in mid-crash, and some showing fire-fighters clambering in the rubble for survivors. I didn't want to see them when I knew it was futile. "540 people were killed. Nobody got out alive."

"Whoa. That's awful. How do you know so much about this?" Beast Boy looks at me quizzically and I frowned.

"Unlike some people, I follow the news." I reply with a pointed look. He can really annoy me at times, he knows exactly what spots to go for. "But seriously, another thing all these guys have in common is that their companies helped to build the hotel. There was a lot of evidence to suggest that the contractors cut corners whilst they were building it but there haven't been any formal charges made against any of the people involved. Doesn't anyone else think it strange that a killer who obviously has a vendetta against corrupt businessmen in this industry appears just after a disaster like this?"

My team all look around at each other and I feel like face-palming. Though they are closer to my family than my friends, they do test me at times. It's why I still sometimes feel like the odd one out, like I'm somehow disconnected from them and the world I've adopted as my home. Don't get me wrong, I'm not ashamed of being different, it's just sometimes it is very obvious I'm from another, much darker place.

"Indeed, that does seem suspicious." Starfire says as she looks sadly at the screen. "Those poor people…"

"I know Star, it's just not right." Cyborg comments as he shakes his head when more pictures come up, each more harrowing than the last. Even Beast Boy looks subdued, the jokes all gone from his eyes. Robin's put his hand to his chin, he's clearly deep in thought.

"That does make a lot of sense." He finally says as he turns to me. "But if that happened in Gotham, what is he doing here in Jump?"

"A lot of the company directors have come here since," I tell him, feeling his eyes behind his mask burning into my own. "They wanted to get out pretty fast to lie low and most came here where they had other offices. It said so in most of the news reports that were calling for them to come back and answer for what happened. Now it might actually be safer for them in Gotham if this Kain is here."

"Who do you think this guy is?" Cyborg asks before he shoves the keyboard away from himself in frustration. He was getting nowhere with the image; it was far too murky to render, it was like looking at something through a pond of dirty water. I frown at it. Something about this doesn't feel right. We know the guy has a gun yet this speaks of something far darker and not human. "Some sort of family member of one of the victims? Or somebody bitter over the corruption wanting to make a point?"

"It could be either, we don't know anything for certain." Robin nods as we all stare back at the screen. "What we do know is, he's dangerous and he needs to be stopped. We can't let anyone else die."

"How are were going to do that?" Beast Boy points out. "This guy is crazy! We don't know what he could do!"

"That's why we're not going to take him head on." Robin answers and a smile creeps onto his face as a plan forms in his mind. "We know this guy is smart. All we have to do is be smarter."

I see the look on his face and something in me lurches. I have a very bad feeling about this but I don't speak up. This guy has to be caught by any means necessary but when I look at the computer screen, something tells me that there is far more to this than we realise. I dismiss it as Cyborg turns it off, telling myself I'm wrong but I can't shake it away. I hate to sound boastful but when it comes to these things, I am never wrong.

A few hours later, Robin's plan has been set in motion. I'm hidden with him down a thin dark alleyway down the side of the hotel where the last killing had taken place. It isn't pleasant; the air is dominated by the smell of the nearby dumpster and the overflow of rubbish from it is being blown around our feet. We're only a few metres from the entrance where the body had been found slumped against the wall and the thought of it was making my skin crawl. It had been almost twenty-four hours since then and the scene was empty but it still felt fresh, like a wound that refused to close. The weather had cleared up so it was no longer raining but the night was still bitterly cold and the hard concrete wall at my back wasn't helping. I pulled my cloak tighter around my body and looked up at the sky. The blackness loomed at me, clear and hollow. Even the moon and the stars seem to have deserted us.

Robin had his back pressed to the wall next to me, his face deep-set in a scowl. He had been like that since the police had told him they wanted no part in his plan, calling it too dangerous and unlikely to work. The chief had even dared to suggest at one point that it should be left up to them and I don't know how he managed to hold back. Above us, we can hear laughter sailing from an open window and he takes out his communicator. "Are we all set?"

"Everything's good here." Cyborg's cool voice answers. On the tiny screen his face is just visible in the light that's emitting from the screens that surround him like a devoted audience. "I just got the system up and running so it should be picking up something any minute now."

"Perfect. Update us if you get anything." He tells him before cutting the connection and calling Starfire. "Hey Star, are you and Beast Boy alright?"

"Yes we are most fine Robin!" She cheerfully replies with a sunny smile. I can see from the background she is in one of the hotel rooms on the same floor as the hall where yesterday's meeting was held. I can still just make out the hum of chatter flowing from it in the background though I'm not sure if it is coming from the communicator or the window above us. It sounds cheerful despite the fact they all know what happened to one of their number yesterday. I'm still a little surprised that Robin managed to persuade them to do this but then again when Robin has a plan, nothing in any world can stop him.

"Yeah, we're cool bro!" Beast Boy's green head pops up on the screen for a few seconds before Starfire pushes him away. I hear him yelp and crash into something off-screen and suppress a giggle. Nobody gets between those two and I can see Robin hiding a smile. The love I feel between the two of them whenever they are together is one of the strongest emotions I've ever felt and I feel a sudden pang of sadness. I know I can never have something like that, I'm just too volatile. Most likely I'd end up flattening my beloved into a pancake whenever I looked at them. Besides, I don't know who would be willing to put up with someone like me. A lot of people make out I should date either Cyborg or Beast Boy but the idea of that just seems wrong, it would be like dating a brother. It's probably best that I stay on my own. I'm used to it anyway.

"Raven?" Robin's urgent voice cuts through my thoughts and I look around at him with a start. "Have you sensed anything yet?"

"Not yet." I say as I try to focus on the situation at hand. I close my eyes and mutter to myself. "Azareth Metrion Zinthos." I feel my magic coarse through me as I hold myself there. My eyes open, now glowing white and my hands are engulfed in black as I cross them over my chest. Using my powers, I can sense everything around me and something instantly triggers within me.

"He's here." I whisper to Robin in the lowest voice I can make. "He's close by, he wants to get inside. We need to hurry, I sense he's getting reckless and we can use that to our advantage. Wait, there's…" I strained as I tried to make sense of what I was detecting but suddenly a cold feeling shot through me, like I had just been doused with cold water, and I came back gasping for breath. Robin stared at me alarmed and I grabbed at his arm for support, the shock so great only the wall was keeping me upright.

"There's something else with him, something powerful…" I stammer as he held me up. "I don't know what it is…it's certainly not human…he's heading for the second floor…"

"Are you sure?" He looks scared; Starfire and Beast Boy are waiting on that floor. I nod just as both our communicators crackle into life, vibrating on our sides frantically like they too are scared. Robin gets to his before I do and Cyborg's serious face appears.

"Guys, there's something messing with my equipment…the cameras have gone dead on the second floor and I can't get them to work! All they are showing is some distorted blackness!" He blurts out as he desperately hammers on the keys in front of him. I feel a chill run through me and I know Robin feels the same thing. "What is going on? What is he doing?"

"I don't know!" I say as suddenly a loud scream cuts through the air above us. I look up at the window and it continues along with the sound of people running.

"Go!" Robin yells at me and I grab his arm and fly up to the open window, hurling us both inside the room. All of the people in the room are cowering by the walls with their hands held up, their eyes focused on the figure in the middle of the room who is expertly cradling a gun with another longer one strapped to his back. He's in an all-black combat uniform usually used by soldiers which put a little bulk onto his thin build. He's wearing a black mask that covers his head with a skull over his face but the eyes behind it are surprisingly brown and ordinary. He holds up his gun and points it at us and I see the steely look in those eyes. Those are the eyes of someone who knows exactly what they are doing and they send a shiver down my spine. It takes a lot to creep me out and he's managed it in a glance. I must be losing my edge.

"Who are you?" Robin demands, his voice echoing around the room as he holds out his staff ready to lunge at him whilst I prepare my magic to draw up a shield if he starts shooting. "And what are you doing here?"

"I think you already know that." The figure says in a brash manner that takes me back a little. I was expecting him to have a deep booming voice, one that sends terror shooting through you, but he sounds almost like a high school jock. "And I felt like it. It's a nice place here and it will look even better with your brains decorating the walls."

"That's not going to happen Kain." Robin says levelly, not moving. "You might as well give yourself up now."

He laughs at that, a mocking sound that rings through the room. "And what happens to me if I don't Bullseye?" He says tauntingly. Then there's a flash of green and he's suddenly knocked to the ground with a howl of pain, his gun flying from his grip as his hand hit the floor with a sick thud, knocking him unconscious. Standing in the doorway opposite us is Starfire, her eyes blazing green and her arm outstretched. Beast Boy is standing behind her, looking slightly stunned at the sight before him. "Wow, he went down easier than I thought…"

"Robin! Are you hurt?" Starfire flies over to him and he reassures her with a hug, clasping her body to his in a way that makes Beast Boy behind them pretend to throw up. I sigh deeply at him. How is it that someone can be that immature? It beggars belief at times.

Cyborg then runs into the room but stops short when he catches sight of the body on the ground. "What the heck…I can't believe it, I missed all the action!" He shouts as he bends over to examine him, checking his pulse and taking his head in his giant hands. "He's out cold, he won't be up for a good few hours."

"Good." Robin says as we all look at the black-clothed man we have just captured. "That gives us plenty of time to figure out what exactly to do with him."


	3. Chapter 3

My head hurts. It hurts so much it feels like a dozen elephants just sat on it all at once and it should be flatter than a pancake. I groan but the sound doesn't reach past my lips, dying a hard death somewhere in my throat. I struggle to move as I come to and I angle my head to try and work out where I am. I catch sight of some bars and I groan properly this time. Great. Just great.

I lift my head up to check out the cell I'm in and I can see it's no ordinary jail with only some metal poles keeping me from sweet freedom. There's some sort of electronic field there that occasionally flickers and distorts the view I have of the room outside which I know I'm not going to be able to get through without some serious tech. As I sit up and groan again, five heads swivel round to look at me, like I'm an animal in a cage at the zoo. They must be the Teen Titans I've heard so much about-I mean who else could they be in this damn city-and they are all giving me death glares. They're good at it, I grant you, but they're nothing when you've seen the real thing.

Death is sitting next to me cross-legged, his black cloak stretched out around him like a yoga mat and his fingers curled over his knees. "You've really done it this time." He says, managing to sound both cross and pleased at the same time. "I did tell you to be wary of them but no, you knew best and wouldn't listen…"

"Yeah, yeah, shut up." I tell him and the Titans jump back from the bars. I look at them for a moment in confusion before I realise how crazy I must look. I've gotten so used to talking with Death that I forget that other people can't hear him. I'm the only person in the world who can hear Death talking, his one singular audience member. Lucky, lucky me.

I take the moment to get my first proper look at them. The one who I know is their leader Robin (I did live in Gotham after all) is the one closest to the cell, his face a mask of seriousness. He looks like he would be glad to leave me here and throw away the key. I look down at his uniform and I want to snigger. Has anyone ever told him he looks like such a dork in that? If he were anything other than a superhero he would be eaten alive. Next to him stands a tall redhead with green eyes that could rival Bambi's and orange skin. Her outfit is purple and bares her flat stomach but the faint chill in the room doesn't appear to bother her. She's very pretty if you like that sort of thing. I've never been into the typical Barbie-doll thing, I like girls that are a little more interesting. Over in the corner working on something that I assume powers the electrical wall of my cell is a tall guy who looks to be completely made of metal. His gleaming blue bulk is hunched over the thing as he fiddles with some tiny wires in his bear-like hands that are attached to a computer. He looks up at me and I can see that whilst one of his eyes is human, the other is small and glows red and it gives me the creeps. Not far from him and sitting perched on the device like a gargoyle is a shorter figure whose skin is bright green all over with matching scruffy hair like unkempt grass and wide eyes that stared intently at me. He has a tiny white fang poking out from between his lips and he looks younger than the others from the way he's childishly fidgeting. The last of the five is standing by the window and she's the one who piques my interest. Unlike the others, she's looked away since I sat up and she's looking out of the window with an almost bored look on her face. Her violet hair is cut short and her skin is light grey so she looks like a marble statue in the dim light. In the middle of her forehead, a red gem glows and her body is draped in a long dark blue cloak so I can only just see the curves of her body through a small gap in it. Her eyes latch onto mine as I turn my head to look at her and I can see how deep and clear they are like there's a whole other universe locked in their crystal-coloured purple. She looks like a mystery, one I'm suddenly interested in solving but at the moment I have more pressing matters to deal with.

Robin makes a little coughing noise and I remember that the rest of them are there as well. She appears to shake her head a little and goes to stand with them. I realise I should probably say something but I have no clue what.

"What's up?" I say and I hear Death groan loudly next to me.

"What's up?" He repeats, sounding exasperated with me. "Did you really just say that? Adrian, you are the biggest idiot I've ever met."

"Have you got any better ideas?" I hiss out of the corner of my mouth. The Titans won't hear me through my mask but I know he will. They are all looking at me like I just grew another head and I rack my brain trying to think of something else. I can't let them know about me, maybe I can bluff this out. I notice that Robin has put his arm out in front of the redheaded girl and I feel a smile return to my face. This could be fun if my theory is correct.

"Hey sugar." I address her, giving a little point so there is no doubt in their minds who I'm referring to. "Has anyone ever told you how fine you look in that?"

My theory is proved right almost instantly as Robin pushes her behind him and almost growls at me with his jaws clenched. He looks so mind-numbingly angry, his temple looks about to pop out. The girl also doesn't look too happy with me as her eyes start to glow green and she holds up her hand that's now encased in an orb of green light. Next to her however, the metal dude just laughs and puts his hand on her shoulder.

"Relax Star, I don't want you breaking the shield," He tells her before he turns to address me. "Man, you really shouldn't be talking like that to the one who knocked you out. She hit you and you went out like a light."

She did that?! I must have made some sort of shocked noise because her and Robin suddenly look very pleased with themselves and Death is killing himself laughing next to me, no pun intended. I can hear him wheezing for breath next to me as he clutches his stomach and rocks and it makes me grit my teeth.

"Shut it already!" I snap before I realise and they are all staring at me like I'm insane again. The satisfied smiles are gone from their faces and Robin now looks like he's about to get down to business.

"Who are you?" He barks and I snort.

"Haven't you figured that out yet?" I look at him and I can almost see the stream coming from his nostrils. "I thought you were a detective Bullseye."

"Why are you calling him that? His name is Robin." The girl named Star says as she crosses her arms. She doesn't look that strong but I know better than most that appearances can be deceiving.

"Have you seen what he's wearing?" I wave a hand in his direction and all their eyes suddenly divert to his outfit. He looks down as if searching for a stain and then looks back at me irritated. "All those bright colours…for somebody going out at night, he looks like a bloody beacon. For someone like me, you'd be walking target practise." I turn to look at the mysterious girl in dark clothing and I point at her. "You and I have the right idea sweetheart, dressed all in dark colours. You should really give Bullseye some fashion tips."

They all look shocked and Robin looks like he wants to tear me limb from limb but she meets my eyes calmly, like she's scrutinising me. For a moment there is an uncomfortable silence that I quite enjoy until she opens her mouth to speak. "Well, now we definitely know he's from Gotham," She says in a monotone voice and my mouth almost drops. "He seems to know who Robin is but he doesn't know the rest of us, hence why he's not using our names." I'm stumped; this girl is good. "This goes with our suspicions. Why don't we ask him about that?"

"I'm still in the room, you know." I say and I frown at how much of a petulant child I sound. "If you want a private conversation, you could always just let me go on my merry way so I don't disturb you."

"Not a chance." Robin says, seemingly over his embarrassment. "What do you know about the Gotham Hotel Disaster?"

The Massacre? How did he know about that? I shrug even though in my head I can almost hear the screaming. It plays in my head constantly on repeat like the worst kind of song and it doesn't help that I can still hear the voices of everyone who perished. "Never heard of it. Why, did you run it with Batman or something? Were you the bell boy? I bet you would look better in that uniform."

"He's bluffing." Her voice comes in again and her eyes are intently on me again. "I can sense it, his emotions spiked the moment you said it." She almost looks sympathetic but I choose to ignore that. The last thing I want is their pity. As I look away I spot something else in her expression. She's staring curiously into the cell at the spot next to me, at me but not at me at the same time. Death gives me a look and a thought hits me. Can she sense him there or something? She's better than I thought, I'm almost beginning to admire her and whatever her powers are. She seems different from the rest of them who are almost looking gleeful at that piece of information. Their faces are really starting to irk me.

"Thank you Raven." I hear Robin say to her. Raven. So that's her name. It's pretty and it suits her kinda well actually. He then turns back to me. "So did you lose family there?"

"If I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"So you're going to play that game, are you? Did you have something to do with it?" He's getting me angry now, I'm seething under my balaclava. Death is looking at me worriedly, he's trying to stop me losing it but I'm already seeing red. "Who are you working for?"

"I had nothing to do with it! I didn't massacre those people!" I snap at them, making them all take a step back at the fury in my voice. "The only murderers around here are those contractors that allowed that death trap to be built! I'm only avenging those people and I don't work for anyone but them!"

"How can you work for them dude?" The green boy pipes up. "Aren't they all dead?"

I don't want to answer his stupid question. The voices are now all talking at once and I can't take them all in. I curl up my knees and rest my head on them, scrunching my eyes shut. I don't want to see them. I don't want to see anyone.

"Hey! We asked you a question!"

"Dude, are you OK?"

"Did he just shut down? Is he a robot or something?"

"Beast Boy!"

"Friends, what is going on?"

They all start talking and their words blur in my head. There's too many of them, it's like a fog that's surrounding and choking me with the overwhelming fuzz of noise. Then the voice of Raven cuts through them all and for the brief moment where she speaks, they all go still.

"It looks like something's got to him. Let's just leave him alone to stew."

Her voice is so clear and pure even when she sounds so emotionless. I hear their footsteps as they leave and then the slamming of a door. I should be alone but I never am. They won't let me be.

"Adrian?" Death's leaning close to me but I'm not in the mood right now.

"Go away." I whisper and I feel him draw away from me. He's still sitting there but now it's a lot easier to ignore him. The voices, however are another matter. They are still circling like vultures, souls each with their own stories, their own opinions and I can't listen to them all. I want to stop listening but how can I when we were all victims of the same thing? That is when I hear them, the same two voices that make tears spring to my eyes as they talk to me, one soft and sweet as candyfloss, the other low and tough but still speaking tenderly.

Adrian….

Adrian…

Adrian…

Adrian…

"Mum? Dad?"

"Who are you talking to?"

 _Sorry this took a while, I really hope it was worth it. I'm trying to write as much as possible but I have a lot going on at the moment plus some other stories I'm writing as well. Please leave a review and see you next time!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Next chapter finally up! I'm sorry this took so long, I've had so much work to do but now that's it's finishing off I should get the next bit done quicker. Thanks for your patience, please review and enjoy everyone!_

His head jerked upwards the moment I spoke, his eyes wide and shocked behind the bleached whiteness of the skull mask. He clearly hadn't heard me come back into the room after the others had left and he stared at me almost in a panic as I sank into a lotus position a few paces from the bars of his cell. From this level, I can properly look into his eyes and see their exact shade as he looks at me warily, the same way you would look at an unexploded bomb. Their light brownness is warm, like the colour of caramel just before it burns. For a few long moments we just stare at each other and he doesn't answer, his mouth pinched in a sullen pout like a child caught with his hand in a cookie jar. I sigh and repeat myself.

"Who were you talking to just now?"

"No one." He mutters crossly, turning his head away and instead focusing on an empty corner of the room. "I was talking to myself."

"Interesting." I say and he looks back at me. "Usually when people talk to themselves, they are never really addressing just themselves. They often are speaking to somebody else, either a real person or a human equivalent of an emotion or problem, even if it is a hallucination or just a construct of their own minds."

"Ooooooh fancy talk." His old bravado returns for a moment as he sneers. "Spare me the psycho-babble cupcake, I'm not in the mood. You're wrong anyway."

"I am never wrong." I tell him firmly and when he doesn't respond, I speak again. "I can sense him you know."

His entire face shifts at that, like a wall has been knocked down and he's not sure how to put it back up. "Who?" He asks, though it's obvious he knows.

"Him." I look directly at the thing that has been there throughout our entire conversation, the shadow that I can't quite get a grip on. It feels strange, like every time I'm close to getting it to focus, it suddenly changes and grows cloudier than before, leaving me further away. Its presence is both ominous and strangely comforting and although it's form is completely alien to me, it also feels familiar. I can tell it is watching me and it moves closer to Kain. Kain turns his head and I see him subtly gesture to it before his face breaks into a smile and he chortles.

"Oh him?" He points, as if he only just entered the cell. "That's just Death."

"Death?" I say and he looks almost disappointed.

"I was expecting something more than that, this guy is the real deal here." He looks at it again and laughs. "You could almost say we're BFF's, he's the only reason I'm still here. He says hi by the way, he knows you can't see him too well."

I raise my hand and say "Hi," in the most deadpan way I can before turning back to Kain. "You shouldn't really have expected much. This sort of thing isn't new to me."

"What do you mean?" He asks curiously.

"I'm half demon," I explain. "In another dimension, my father is the demon king, so I'm kinda used to darkness and all that comes with it."

"No way!" He sounds and he actually sounds impressed. "Wait, if your dad is the demon king or lord or whatever, doesn't that make you like a princess or something?"

"I…don't know." That really makes me flummoxed. "I hadn't thought of it like that but I don't think it works that way."

"Really? It suits you." He says and I feel myself blushing. "That's what I'll call you from now on."

"My name is Raven," I tell him, my voice clipped. I don't like nicknames much, the ones Beast Boy tries to give me are insufferable, so why am I slightly flattered that he is considering me in that way? I brush it off and respond. "What about yours?

"What, my title?" He grins and I exhale sharply.

"No your name. You never gave Robin a straight answer."

"I'm Kain." He replies nonchalantly. "But you already knew that. I'd much rather talk about you."

I frown. I'm really getting nowhere with him. Maybe I should play along a little more. For some reason I'm enjoying the rush of it, like I'm playing some sort of verbal game. "There's not much to say. I'm half-demon, I come from another dimension, my father raped my mother and nearly took over this world and my powers need constant control over my emotions. That's pretty much it."

"I don't believe that." He says and there is honesty burning in his eyes as he stares at me. "I knew you were different from the others when I saw you with them. They're your friends but they don't really get you, do they?" I look away, not wanting him to see how right he is and I hear him chuckle. "Don't worry, nobody will ever get me too. We're in the same boat princess."

"Don't call me that." I snap. If Beast Boy gets wind of this, I'll never hear the end of it. "And what do you mean by that?"

He sighs. "I guess it's my turn for show and tell." He reaches a hand up to his face and in one swift ripping motion, like somebody pulling off a plaster, he takes off his balaclava and ruffles his black hair, making it messier than it already is. He looks back at me with a smile twisting his mouth and I'm struck by how young he looks. He can't be much older than me yet he looks so sickly. His skin looks like wax and I can almost see the edge of every bone in his face. His cheeks look hollow like an old mans but his eyes spark with youth and life. I must have a shocked expression as he laughs at me and I feel my cheeks glow red.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't stare…"

"Don't worry, I'm used to it." He says with a shrug. "I know I look on the verge of death, that's why I wear the mask." He motions to it as it lays by him on the floor and I can see Death is looking at it to, almost with an air of amusement. "Plus it looks cool."

"How long have you been like this?" I ask. "How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen." He answers and I feel a twinge of surprise. He's seventeen and yet he's killed eighteen people. He's committed more murders than he's had years on Earth. Then again, should anything this boy says surprise me? "And I've been like this since the Massacre."

"The…what?" I go. There was no mention of anything with that name on the files we had on him. "You mean the Gotham Hotel Disaster?"

His eyes suddenly go so dark I almost recoil but I keep my expression blank. It's like a shadow has gone over his face and he shudders like a cold chill has just run through him. "It was more than a disaster," He mutters. "It was a little slice of hell on Earth. Everything was shaking, people were screaming but nobody could come quick enough…" He holds his hands over his ears like he's trying to keep himself together before he gulps and shakes them off. "It was a horror, a massacre that could have been avoided so easily. That's why I do this princess."

I'm so shocked I don't even reprimand him for the nickname. "Wait…you were there? How did you get out alive? There were no survivors."

"There weren't any survivors." He replies. His hand reaches down to his waist and he yanks up his top so his stomach is exposed, never once taking his eyes off mine. Slashed across his middle, cutting his gaunt body in two, is a giant red gash that is at least two inches wide at its widest point. The edges are curled and brown like an old scar but the middle is throbbing red and angry like a fresh wound. I gasp and I cover my hands with my mouth but I can't look away. Instead of backing away, I lean closer to it so my face is centimetres from the cold metal bars and he looks oddly satisfied at my reaction.

"That was where I was hit," He explains. "I was crushed by a wall when it fell down on me but I didn't die instantly. I remember lying there trapping and I could feel this awful pain all down here, like I was being torn apart. I couldn't see a thing but there was screaming and crashing and…everything just fell apart around me. The air kept getting thicker like pea soup and I was yelling out for my parents but…they were already gone." I can see tears in his eyes and I want to hold out my hand and wipe them away but the shield in between us prevents me and I don't dare let him out. I may be warming to him but that doesn't mean I trust him. He looks up and tries to smile reassuringly.

"You don't need to look so worried. I'm still here, aren't I?" He does mini jazz hands as his stomach is covered back up and I have to smile at him. "My old pal Death here resurrected me after all the paramedics left. Turns out my body was so deep in the wreckage they never found it. He said I still had a purpose, that this wasn't supposed to happen. He also likes an underdog story." He turns to smile at the shadow beside him. "That's the story of how I became me, how I became Kain."

"What about who you were before?" I ask. This wasn't what I was expecting. I thought he would be so much tougher, that he would put up a front and I would have to use my powers to get to him but instead it feels like he's got to me.

"He's still there somewhere." He smiles and I can't help but return it. "My name…it was Adrian. Adrian Shephard."

Adrian. It sounds so normal, so sweet and for a moment I can see the boy he was before tragedy chomped him up and spat him out.

"You see?" He goes on. "We're not that different after all. You're half human, half demon and I'm half alive, half dead. We both toe lines that probably shouldn't be toed."

I open my mouth to reply when I hear a voice behind me.

"Raven? You still in here? I thought you were coming to the ops room?"

It's Beast Boy. "I'm just coming!" I call out before I look back at him. "I have to go."

"No big deal." He answers, leaning back against the wall with his hands behind his head. "I suspect they need you. May our paths cross again princess."

"Do not call be princess." I tell him but there's none of the usual ferocity in my voice. I really must be going soft. "Goodbye Adrian."

The last look I see from him before I close the door is of surprise and it pains me when I feel it myself. He can't have heard that name being used in a while. I walk down the corridor trailing after Beast Boy's voice and my thoughts are all on him. After all, it's not every day you meet someone like you. Especially when you are me.


	5. Chapter 5

_I'm back! Told you the next bit would be quicker. Anyway I hope you enjoy this!_

The moment the door closes behind her, the room is filled with darkness. In the gloom, I can sense Death turn to me as I draw out the rifle the Titans didn't take off me and delve into my boot for the emergency ammunition I keep under the sole. I guess the robot guy was trying to be cocky, showing off that a mere gun wouldn't get past his oh-so-mighty shield. He hadn't reckoned on me.

"Are you sure about this?" Death asks me as we both look over at the computer in the corner. It's little yellow lights are blinking at me almost as if it is trying to provoke me. At the moment, it's working. "She seems nice, maybe she could help us. They all could."

I only nod determinedly as I load and he drifts away to the bars of the cell almost sadly. He seems to have really taken a liking to Raven and her strange charm wasn't lost on me either. For some reason I felt drawn to her, like we had some sort of magnetic energy and when she smiled it was like I had won the lottery. An image of her smiling comes into my mind but I grunt and shake it away. I don't have time to waste; the voices are starting to simmer again and they've given me another name. The words Jacob Zane echo through my skull as I stand up and make my way over to Death. They are spitting out his name like bile and I can hear the bitterness in their voices; he must be one of the top dogs, the big guns. That means I need to leave and leave no matter what. It's like I said, I'm the one who pulls the trigger simply because the others can't.

I kneel in front of the bars and focus my gaze on the blinking lights, trying to decide which one will do the most damage. After a moment I pick the biggest one and I concentrate on it until I feel like the blinking light has been burned onto my eyeball.

"Now?" Death says quietly next to me, his hand held out hesitantly.

"Now."

His bony white fingers reach out and plunge into the shield, making them glow yellow and spark like lightning. He spreads them out, his arm shaking violently with the effort, and it creates a small hole that I quickly slot my rifle into and aim it at my target. I snicker. So much for nobody being able to break this thing. I did say you would need some serious tech for this job but who needs that when Death is literally on your side?

I make the shot and the crash of the computer breaking and the sight of all the little lights dying is very satisfying. The shield fizzles before it too dies, leaving the world on the other side beautifully clear. Now the only thing that was left was the bars and those were almost too easy to slip through after bending them a little bit. I may be skinny but I'm way stronger than I look. My father always said never to judge anything on appearances and I guess I'm a prime example.

"OK, what now?" I hear Death say irritably behind me as he nurses his fingers. I know he doesn't like pulling stunts like that, his powers when it comes to things other than souls are very limited and draining for him but it couldn't be helped. I cockily try the door but it doesn't work and I can feel his smirk on the back of my neck as I slump my head forwards. It's one of those stupid sliding ones and no matter how hard I ram the buttons, it refuses to open. I try several combinations before I slam my palm against it in frustration. It still doesn't yield. He's floating directly behind me now with a giant grin on his face and I hiss in annoyance as I look around the room.

"Now we try the window." I say as I point at it and he just looks amused.

"Go ahead." He drawls and I answer with a smashing of glass as I smash the butt of my rifle into its centre, causing the glass to explode like a firework. The room suddenly is alive with the sound of howling wind and I poke my head out, careful of the broken shards around my neck, to see where exactly I am. I swear loudly into the wind and it whips away my words. Not only do I seem to be on an island far off the coast of Jump City but I'm also a good few storeys up in a building shaped like a giant yellow T.

"What the actual-" I curse as I stick my head back in. "These people are insane!"

"What, for effectively keeping you a prisoner here?" Death chuckles and I seriously want to deck him and not for the first time. "Sounds more like they have brains."

"Shut up." I snap. "There must be some way, I didn't just get out of that cage just to be foiled by a door… can't I just chuck myself out there and when I get turned into a pancake at the bottom, you just resurrect me again?"

He crosses his arms and glares at me crossly; I've clearly stepped over some line. "No I can't just resurrect you again, it doesn't work that way. Life and death is not something to be so easily disregarded and mocked. I thought you of all people would know that." He half turns away from me and stares at the far wall with his head bowed.

"I do know." I really must have offended him, he doesn't freak out like this much. I stand in front of him and keep my voice sincere. "I'm sorry man. Give me some of your great advice and I promise I'll listen this time."

He gives me a small devious smile and I know we're good again. "OK, how's this. The Titans used their brains to keep you here and you can't use your brawn to get out. So…how else can you get out?"

I see the look in his eyes, eyes that can look so dark and soulless but are right now glinting with the excitement he has. I know exactly what he's thinking and I grin wickedly in response.

"So I'm gonna use my brains to get me out of this mess?"

"Precisely. Here's what I was thinking…"

It never fails to amaze me what will happen when you turn an alarm on. I've seen the effect it has on people when I've been forced to break into homes, offices and hotels; at the sound of a loud noise people revert back to their fight or flight instincts. Some will run screaming, some will stand with blank eyes and silently panic whilst other run into the action like they are almost gleeful of the chance to prove themselves. The Titans, although they may be different to your average person, are just the same; when the alarm starts to ring thanks to Death's intervention, the first thing they do is run to my cell and that's exactly where I want them to go. The idiots didn't ever think.

The door slides open and they all practically fall through it. I almost laugh out loud at the sight; the green one is flailing his limbs around like he's trying to dad dance, the robot leaps in with a shout of "Boo-yah!" and starts swinging his arm around which has turned into some sort of cannon and their fearless leader tumbles in and nearly smacks his face into it as he starts spinning his staff around. Only the girls seem composed; the skinny Star chick flies over their heads with an expression of rage and Raven floats in after her. She's the only one who looks somewhat wary and I can't resist giving her a little tap on the shoulder as I dash through the door and she spins around in horror when she sees me.

"Bye bye princess." I wave at her as the door closes and I slam my fist into it, jamming the controls. I hear an enraged shout from inside, followed by a cry of "He broke my shield! How did he break my shield!?" and I almost cry with laughter as I run away from the door.

"You are a genius," I tell Death as we exit the building and head for the bridge that will take me back to the city. "Setting off the alarm and having me hide behind the door…priceless, my friend, priceless."

"I try." He says smugly. He enjoyed it just as much as I did, I can tell. "I have seen centuries of human plans in my time and I know exactly how not to make them fail."

It doesn't take long before I'm back on the rooftops of the city and I feel at home again. The rush I get when I'm up here can't be compared to anything else, no drug could ever capture it or do it justice. Up here, I'm soaring amongst clouds, I'm racing with the wind and rain and nobody else can see me up here, they are all below me. I run along the tops of the flat corporate buildings, never missing my footing as I focus on my next target. The voices are feeding me information, stuff they are gathering as they speak. Jacob Zane is currently chairing an important meeting at his headquarters, in a conference room on the third floor. The building is just up ahead, you could hardly miss it, the amount of lighting on it is so gaudy plus there's a massive red neon Z on the side of it. The voices are getting more and more urgent as I get closer and I wonder what has got them so riled up. Even Death seems a little on edge as he keeps up with me. Maybe this guy is deeper in it than I thought.

I reach the building and stop on a roof opposite that is level with the fourth floor. I can see the window of the conference room and I start examining the place. It's hardly ideal but it looks like I have a good angle for a nice clean shot. This should be easy. I crouch by the very edge of the roof and the cold wind threatens to blow me off but I ignore it tugging on my clothes as I watch the meeting. It looks like every other one I've ever spied on; you'd be surprised how much time these people spent in these things. There are a bunch of old men, several of them fat and bald, sitting around a table listening intently to the man at the head. He is talking rapidly, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat like it is trying to escape and he has the room in a trance. As I watch him, the voices all seem to get louder and this tells me he is my target.

If there was ever a caricature of a businessman, Jacob Zane would be it. His hair is grey and hangs over his ears in stiff clouds and his face is made pear-shaped by his drooping chins. His lips are puffy, his eyes are dark and watery, his fingers clutched around his glass of water are stubby and bound by fat platinum rings. His suit is black and even I can see it is well-cut; this guy is obviously worth a fortune. He waves his hand and he must have made a joke as suddenly the others all erupt with laughter whilst he sits there smugly. I can see the power he welds from just the way he sits and gestures, he must have everybody in there by their financial balls. However, against me, he'll soon have nothing.

The voices are almost singing in joy as I ready myself. I've never heard them so happy or so loudly before, it feels like an entire orchestra is playing in my head. I hiss at them to be quiet but they don't hear me over their own noise. Something seems very off about this and as I sneak a look at Death I can see how worried his face is. Something really isn't right.

I point my rifle at the window as Jacob Zane stands up. The wall behind him starts to unfurl as a screen slides into place behind him, like a show is about to begin. I see him waving his arms excitedly, his ruddy cheeks growing even redder as it builds, and I hesitate. What is going on?

Everyone is leaning forwards in their seats like dogs begging for their next meal. He holds them all there in his palms like putty and the sight is almost pitiful. Then the screen bursts into light and reveals what he was talking about and the sight of it makes me freeze and all the voices in my head go silent.

It's a building plan. The image of a stretched-out architectural sketch is being displayed and the building looks like an identical copy of the Gotham Hotel. My body suddenly heaves and I have to pull myself away from the edge to stop me toppling over. I gag like my body is trying to repeal the sight I just saw but it still runs through my head. They are going to do the same thing again. I drag myself back to look over and see it is even worse than I feared. The materials are cheaper, the workforce budget is far too low, there are even more corners cut. I see the name above the dreadful drawing and read it with despair. The Jump City Hotel. So that's why they all came here. They wanted to make their money back…

The screaming is back in full force and it is louder than anything I have experience before. I'm shaking so much I can barely pick up my rifle as I position myself again, my body juddering still. I hear Death next to me protesting, he's saying I need to stop and think but there is no time. I need these voices gone, I need to stop this…

"Stop Kain! There's nowhere for you to run this time!"

I turn my head and groan when I see the Teen Titans are standing on the roof behind me, their weapons all pointed and ready to go. They all look posed for battle except for Raven who hasn't even readied her magic. She looks at me and I can see the alarm in her face. I really must look a state.

"Kain?" She calls over, her voice gentle as she takes a small step towards me. Her team are all looking at her like she's crazy and the green one makes a grab for her cloak but she brushes him off. "Kain, please, you need to stop…"

I turn away. Nobody is going to stop me now. It looks like they are wrapping up the meeting, everyone is clapping and standing up to shake hands with the grinning pompous twit. I have my rifle pointed at his neck, it will be a nice messy death which is the least he deserves…

"Adrian!"

A voice comes into my head so clearly and so loudly, I freeze in place again. I sway a little in the strong winds and I hear wincing from Death but all I can focus on is the voice that is echoing through me, a voice I haven't heard this clearly for a long long time.

"Adrian, please don't do this," The voice of my mother begs me. I see an image of her float into my mind and it's so real she could be right there in front of me. The looks the same as she always did; her long brown hair is in a loose ponytail and her round brown eyes like honey plead with me as they fill with tears. She's wearing the light blue silk dress she was wearing on that day. She was so pleased with it, she had found it on sale at her favourite department store and had been overjoyed that it had fitted her. Her face is pale and drawn but she is still my mother. "This isn't going to help. Killing him won't stop the building works, he will be replaced with another and another and the same thing will happen and the rats will run to another place…it's a vicious cycle that you need to stop. You can't take the whole world on your shoulders my angel." She sobs and suddenly my father is behind her, looking like he is holding her up.

"Dad?" I whisper, the wind taking my voice away.

"She's right son." He tells me. He still looks the same too, he still has the thick black hair I inherited and his hazel eyes bore into mine. He looks at my rifle in my hands; he was the one who taught me everything about guns and his training, I had hoped I would follow in his footsteps. "You can't do this alone. You need them," He nods at the Titans who haven't made a move behind me. "You need their justice to end this."

"Mum…Dad…" I whisper again but their images are gone, lost in the bowels of my mind as I suddenly realise where I am again. The conference room is empty; they all filed out a few seconds ago. The lights go out but the picture is still up, mocking me with all the horror it represents. I breathe shallowly and I feel Death's worried gaze on me.

"Kain?" It's Raven again. "Kain, what's going on?"

I stand up shakily, my body feeling stiff from the cold and I let out a sigh that airs out my lungs. I turn back to face them and drop my rifle, letting them take in the sight of me with stunned faces. They all watch me as I step away from the edge and utter words I never thought would ever come out of my mouth.

"I need your help."


	6. Chapter 6

"Wait, just a sec," Cyborg says, his human eye wide as it pings between me and a trussed-up Kain at the other side of the table as he speaks. "What you're saying is this guy was able to escape and get through my shield, _my shield_ , because he was being aided by Death itself?"

"Yes. And Death is a he, not an it."

"Sorry. And now he wants us to help him?"

"It seems so."

"And you're buying this?"

I sigh deeply and I hear Kain groan loudly as they all shoot a look at him. Distrust is written all over their faces and I can hardly say I blame them for it. This boy has been on our most wanted list since he surfaced, he escapes and traps us in our own tower (though it didn't take long to break out) and then he shocks us all by asking for our help in taking down a guy we've never heard of. I take a look at him from the corner of my eye. He's been tightly tied to a chair by Beast Boy and Cyborg, who I suspect probably enjoyed it after the whole shield incident, and he doesn't look that happy about it, borderline snarling at us all like a wild beast when we get close. He has a gag around his mouth but I can see he is listening intently to every word. Death is hovering by his side, still just a blackish hazy blur in my vision, and I can feel his brown eyes pleading with me. I can sense his overwhelming anger with us but I can also feel the panic and annoyance coming off of him in strong waves and I can tell he is desperate. What he did on the top of that building, letting us lead him back here, makes me believe he is honest and, like I said, I am never wrong about things like this. "It's not a matter of buying anything. We can't let this happen."

"I don't know about this Raven," Robin says, running his fingers over his hair, which springs back into place due to the amount of hair gel in it. "We can hardly trust him and this doesn't seem like our fight. This guy is just another businessman-this is really a matter for the police."

"Do you really think they'll do anything?" A harsh angry voice suddenly yelled and we all sharply turned to see he had worked himself free of his gag and looked furious with what he had just heard. I gave the murky shadow a look and I could've sworn it shrugged. "Hate to burst your bubble Bullseye but the police will do diddly-squat when it comes to guys like this! Most of them are holed up in their pockets and will turn a blind eye so by the time the decent ones have caught up, it'll be too late-they will have fled the district some place far away where they can't get at them! That is what happened in Gotham and it will happen here too unless you help me! How will that look, Jump City's precious heroes not stepping in to avoid another massacre and letting the culprits get away scot-free because it wasn't their job?!"

We all stand there around the table as he finishes and pants loudly, exhausted by his outburst. They all look stunned and even I'm surprised by the amount of venom in his words; he really does mean business. At first, nobody else dares to speak apart from Beast Boy muttering "Dude…" under his breath which earns him another glare from me.

"I assure you that it is not a matter of not doing our jobs," It was Starfire who finally spoke; after a glance at how tightly her boyfriend was holding his jaw, it was obvious he wouldn't be speaking for a few minutes. "It is instead a matter of if we can trust you. You have killed many people before this without any problems, why not this one as well? How can we take your word when we know what you are capable of? How do we even know you are telling the truth right now about Death being with you?"

I look at Starfire with my mouth almost agape. I've never seen her act this cold before, this must really be getting to her. She does have a point though; these are questions that he needs to answer before any of the others will accept him. Wait, does that mean I've already accepted him completely? I look at Kain's face and I can see most of the anger has drained away as he stares Starfire down.

"This is different," He says, his voice suddenly dripping with authority and a reasonable tone which is unlike his bravado before. I almost want to smile; this feels more like the Adrian I glimpsed back in the cell than the Kain we saw before. "These plans will go ahead even if Jacob Zane is dead. He will just be replaced and the death trap will still be built and still crumble. However, if he gets arrested the whole thing will be shut down and it will not be allowed to happen. Rats can't escape a sinking ship if they are stuck there, as my old man used to say."

"That does make sense," Cyborg pointed out, his fingers held onto his chin. "It would stop the vicious cycle of them running off and getting away with it. I don't want to see what happened in Gotham happen here."

"Exactly." He beamed suddenly and his entire face seemed to light up, making him look like a schoolboy who had just been praised. It removed some of the greyness and the lines from his face and he almost looked handsome. "And I assure you Miss Star, I am perfectly trustworthy. I swear it on my honour."

"Do you even know what that means?" Robin snarls but I choose to ignore him in favour of Beast Boy who speaks up and voices another point.

"But dude, how do we know about the whole death…thingie?"

"Nicely put dude." Cyborg grins at him before he looks back at Kain sternly. "But still…"

"Wait, what?" He looks around at us like we've just asked him to strip naked in front of us. "You want me to prove he's here? Sorry, no can do. He's not a performing monkey you know."

"We need something to prove it." Robin puts bluntly.

"What would you suggest Bullseye, that he kills someone here to prove it?" Kain snaps back with anger sparking in his voice. "I thought you hero types were against unnecessary killings."

Robin looks ready to spit flames and I intervene before they can say anything else, stepping between them. "Guys, he's telling the truth." I say and they all stare at me again. "I can sense him, I've been sensing him the entire time. The reason I couldn't get a strong hold on his mind at the hotel was because of him. I can see him there right now, he's standing right there."

I point at him and they all follow my finger and gaze at the empty space that they see. Beast Boy slowly raises a hand and I see him leaning forwards. Death openly flinches away from the touch and I step forward to lower his hand. He looks at me strangely but I barely notice it. They all must think I'm acting odd; I don't usually stick up for anybody who isn't one of my friends. Why is he so different?

Kain turns his head like he's talking to someone and he mutters something under his breath I can't make out before he gives me a grateful look before he turns back to the others. "Look I know you don't trust me," He says bluntly. "But you can't deny that there is something fishy going on here. You can't ignore it. I know this kind of thing inside out and I can help you. It's your choice whether to use the valuable resource you have in front of you or lock me up and throw away the key. You pick."

He leans back casually in the chair after he finishes and I can see how they are all mulling it over. Robin's still scowling but I can feel the sense of realisation coming from him. The last thing he would ever do would be to put the city in danger and, even though he may not like it, Kain is the best hope we have of stopping this. Starfire looks at him and puts her hand on his shoulder and he allows himself to smile at her.

"Alright," He announces. "We'll help you but for this only. Consider it part of your community service for all the other crimes you've committed."

"Great!" He sounds so happy we agreed, I don't think he heard the second part. His sudden enthusiasm is kind of endearing and I smile again though I quickly wipe it away when I see Beast Boy staring. "Now can I get untied please? These are hurting my sensitive skin."

Robin's mouth twitches as he reluctantly nods at Cyborg and within minutes he is free and rubbing his wrists. "First off, some conditions. Firstly stop calling me Bullseye."

"Fine, whatever Bull-Robin."

Robin growls a little before he next speaks and I almost want to giggle. He's pressing his buttons even more than Beast Boy does and that is really saying something. "OK well there's only one more anyway; you are going to be chaperoned at all times by at least one Titan. For that task I nominate Raven."

"Wait, what?" I blurt out as Beast Boy and Cyborg snigger and Starfire gives a relieved look. "Why me? You already stuck me on babysitting duty once, I'm not doing it again!"

"You were the one supporting him earlier." Robin points out, a smirk under his mask as he folds his arms. "Have you changed your mind since?"

I can't answer, my throat only being able to make a small growling noise as I look away. I spot Kain is grinning at me and he gives an exaggerated wink. I want to wipe that smug smile off his face but I keep control and content myself with a glare.

"Good, now we have that settled we can start on this immediately." Robin declares proudly. "If we are going to catch these guys, we're going to need to know every detail of their plans. Do you two think you can get those for us-subtly mind, without killing anyone or giving us away?

"Of course we can." Kain says immediately, giving my side a nudge. "Right, princess?"

He doesn't see the wave of my magic that sends him pounding into the wall face first and I smile when I see the blurry figure of Death is bent over laughing. Maybe this could be more fun than I thought.


	7. Chapter 7

There's still a part of me that can't believe I'm doing this. I'm running along the rooftops of the city, the lights spread out below me like I'm running on the starry sky, but this time I'm running with a Titan helping me take down my next target. Well, I say running with, really she's flying and she's a good few lengths in front of me. I'm following the folds of her blue cloak as they wisp around in the air and I'm struggling to keep up. I'm having to run at my top speed just to keep her in my sight and, even though I'm reasonably fit, this is still too much.

"Hey Raven!" I call out and although she doesn't turn around, she slows a little. "Can we walk the rest of this? I mean, I know I have many talents but flying isn't one of them."

"Oh. Right." She slowly floats back down and lands gently on the ground, still not looking me in the eyes. "Fine. We'll walk. It's not too far anyway."

We start walking, me meandering along quite casually whilst she strides ahead. She keeps herself a good two metres in front and I can tell she's determinedly not looking around. I would sigh and shake my head at how childish she's being but I don't want to make her more pissed off than she already is. Instead, my mind mulls over how I ended up in this crazy situation. This night feels like it's lasted a week with all the action I've seen. I went to a meeting, got captured, escaped, got captured again and now I'm tracking down the car of Jacob Zane with Raven by my side. Things honestly couldn't get any weirder.

We were able to trace the Zane's car using the city's traffic cameras; somehow the Titans managed to hack their way in there. Raven explained that they usually would have asked for permission first but it would have taken too long for it to be granted and time was something she didn't think they had. It was Cyborg who did it for us, it took him all of twenty minutes to get in and for some of that time he was eating a sandwich like it was about to run away from him. I've learnt all their names now; the metal man is Cyborg, the little green one who seems to annoy everybody is Beast Boy and the full name of the redheaded chick is Starfire. They seem to have warmed to me a little or they seem to have stopped shooting murderous grins at me. Starfire even wished me luck on our mission and called me friend, though I've been told since she does it to most people who ally with the Titans. So far the only ones who still seem to hate me are Robin (no surprise there, he still seems sore from the whole Bullseye thing and I can tell he doesn't trust me as far as he can throw me) and Raven which is a real shame as she's the one I would most like to get to know. I look up at her just as the wind blows her hair slightly out of place and for a second I can glimpse a few more centimetres of her long slender neck. It makes me bite my lip hard. I want to talk to her but I can't think of a single thing to say. It's like my throat is clogged up with cotton wool and every time I try to speak I choke on it. It's rare that I can't think of anything to say and I don't like the feeling.

Death's eyes are on me, urging me to speak and so I decide to open my mouth and just go for it. "It's a good night tonight." I hear myself say and it feels like an out of body experience. "Good level of darkness, cloud cover…perfect for sneaking around, right princess?"

Did I really just say that? That's the equivalent of talking about the weather but worse. Next to me I hear Death groan like I've fatally stabbed him. "That was even worse than what's up." He moans at me and I turn my head to see him face palm.

I look back at Raven, fearing her sarcastic response, but all she does is make a small huffing noise and then carries on walking like nothing happened. I give Death a confused look and he gives one right back. What is up with her? It's like she can't even stand to acknowledge my existence.

I try again. Maybe if I ask her a question, she'll have to respond. "So Raven…"

"Please don't try and talk to me."

Her voice is so flat and emotionless I feel like it's crushing me. I see the way she quickens her pace and it makes me snap.

"Why are you so mad at me?"

That makes her stop and spin around to face me, her cloak spilling out around her. "Who says I'm mad at you?"

I blink at her. "You're acting like it. You've been trying to avoid me since we set out and you don't want to talk to me at all. I get that you don't really want me to be here and you probably hate my guts but-"

"I don't hate your guts." She says, her voice softer and it takes me completely by surprise. "And I'm not mad or at least not at you. I didn't want to do this and I'm just…confused." She can't look me in the eyes and I start to feel a little bit of hope fluttering in my chest. Maybe this is my chance.

"Well I don't really either," I tell her and now it's her turn to look surprised. "It's freezing out here and I just want to get this done. Maybe if we talk, it will go faster and we can get this over and done with quicker."

She hesitates and I hold in a breath but then she shrugs and goes "OK, why not?"

She lets me catch up with her and I almost want to do a victory dance. Death gives me a quick thumbs-up and I return it with a smile as we start to walk, our steps now in sync. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know, I hadn't given it that much thought." I admit, racking my brain for something, anything to ask her. This is my chance and I don't want to fluff it up completely. "What's…what's your favourite colour?"

Why am I such a stupid dork? Death looks almost fit to explode beside me and I'm expecting her to look at me like the fool I am but instead she gives me an answer almost straight away. "Blue. I've always liked it, that's why my cape is this colour." She swishes it out beside her and for a second, she looks like a little girl playing with the skirt of a long princess dress. "It's a very calming colour. What about you?"

"I'm not sure. When I was a kid I always loved red but when I got older I liked grungy colours more like blacks and dark greens." I said. "Though I'm beginning to quite like purple."

She catches me staring at her hair and a red blush creeps over her cheeks as she whips her head back around to stare directly ahead. I do the same thing and I try to think of something to lighten the mood. "OK, my turn again. What's your favourite thing to do? You know, when you're not out heroing and stuff."

"Heroing?" She asks with a snarky smile on her face and I feel my insides cringe as she giggles. I don't mind too much though; I still get to hear her laughing. "Well, when I'm not out doing that I usually read, mediate or study my spell books. I feel at home around books…well most books. Some can really break your heart."

She bows her head slightly and I can see the flicker of pain that passes across her pretty features. I instantly want to find who hurt her and go punch their lights out but before I can ask about it, she raises her head and says "So what do you like to do?"

"You know, you can't just keep repeating my questions." I pretend to pout. "That's not how this is meant to work."

"Watch me." She smirks at me with a spark of mischief in her eye and my brain feels woolly again. "And you haven't actually answered it."

"That's because you're nicking mine, you little question thief." I shake my finger at her and give her a smirk of my own. "I demand a new question."

"Fine. You can have one." She strokes her chin for a moment in thought before she turns back to me. "OK. What were your parents like?"

I stop in my tracks and she instantly looks panicked. "I'm sorry, that was too personal, it's just…I heard you talking to them, up on that roof. You looked so angry before but then they seemed to calm you down. I'm guessing it was them who told you not to kill that guy, right?" When I nod, she looks away, her fingers weaving in and out of each other as they dance with worry. "I…just wondered what they were like. They must have been pretty amazing people."

"They were." I look up at her and a ghost of a smile reaches my lips as we start to walk again. "My mum…her name's Lydia. She's the kindest person you could ever meet, she would give you the coat off her back if she could and she would think nothing of it. She always put me and my dad first, we had to sometimes make her do something just for herself and she always protested. She was there at all my school things, every sports day, every school play, she was there recording it. She loved to bake and her pies were the best. She was always there…she used to call me her angel." I can feel myself smiling at the memories but there's a pain that comes with them, like something is yanking hard on my heartstrings. "Everyone used to tell me I had her eyes."

I look over at Raven and see she's staring into my eyes, like she's trying to see my mother behind them. She quickly turns away and the red across her cheekbones returns. I wonder if she's ever blushed this much in her life, she really doesn't look used to it.

"And what about your father?" Her voice sounds like she is choking on the last word. She stops and I almost raise my hand to pat her on the back.

"My dad's called Owen. He was a Green Beret and he taught me everything I know. All my skills are down to him; he was one of the best in the business. When I was a kid I wanted to be exactly like him, he was so brave and courageous. He was a big man and he was really strong too but he was also the gentlest man I knew. His job took him away a lot but when he was there, everything was so good as we were all so happy. His job was why we were at that hotel that day." I can't look at her anymore; I don't want her to see me like this. "My dad was going to get an award, a special one for all his years of flawless service. We were all so proud, my mum had a new dress, we both had new suits…" I'm gripping my rifle so hard, I'm scared it might bend but I know if I don't grip it like this I will have a breakdown. "All that time on the front line…and he dies in a hotel. It still feels like some sort of sick joke."

"That's awful." I hear her murmur next to me but I still can't look up. "What about you? What were you like?"

"Isn't it my turn?" I say jokingly but I still answer the question. The floodgates have been opened now and I don't think I could stop myself if I tried. "I was just a regular teenager. I played on my school football team, I had a group of friends, I even had a few girlfriends." I look quickly to see what her reaction to that is but her face remains the same. "I was confident but I wasn't cocky like some of the jocks, I got good grades and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life; I was going to join the army and follow in the footsteps of my father. I had it all planned out." I look up at her again, properly this time, raising my head to her shining sympathetic eyes, eyes that are telling me that it's fine to keep going on like this. "You know, when I was resurrected, my first thought was whether I could go back to my old life. It wouldn't be the same sure but I thought maybe it could happen. Then I saw myself and I realised how far gone I was. I wasn't the same Adrian anymore, I was this…whatever I am. I'm not dead but I'm not fully alive either. I listen to the dead but I feel disconnected from the living. It's like I've got one foot either side." Tears are beginning to threaten to fall and I don't think I can keep them back for much longer. Then I feel something gentle on my shoulder and I see her grey fingers there curling around it.

"It's OK, I get it, sort of." She whispers and I have to lean closer to hear her. "I didn't ask to be different either. I love my friends and I love this world but there's still a part of me that comes from another dimension, a part that doesn't belong." She looks at me and she tries to smile. "It's like you said. One foot in one world, one foot in another. One either side."

"Yeah." That's the only word that I can say, the single sound falling from my lips as I look into her eyes and she looks into mine. For a moment, it feels like she can see every bit of the pain inside me, like I've laid mine bare and she's done the same. I've just said I feel disconnected from the living but with her, it feels like we have a connection that no one else can have and I suddenly want to thank whatever deity is watching us that I found her here.

She's the one who looks away first when we each hear the screeching of car tires and the sound of a door slamming. "We must have been closer than we thought." I hear her breathe. "We're already here."

Slowly, I edge forwards and she follows me as we peer downwards from the rooftop of the building we are on, down into the dimly lit street. The street lamps look like the orange ends of cigarette butts and I quietly curse their uselessness. It's then when Raven points down at the corner.

"Look, there's his car."

I follow the line of her arm and it takes me only a few seconds to notice it. The giant black beast of a limousine is parked on the corner of the street and I can see some people standing by it. I'm too far away to hear them but they appear to be deep in conversation and are getting very animated about something. They keep gesturing to the building behind them and I avert my eyes from them to look at it. The building looks like some sort of strange shell as it's completely covered in scaffolding and I can barely make out what it's supposed to be, yet there's something about it that's making me feel uneasy.

"Raven, what is that?" I ask her and she drags her attention away for a moment to look at it.

"I'm not sure." She frowns. "I know the site was bought a few months ago but I didn't realise how much progress had been made. This thing really seems to have shot up out of nowhere."

Her words make me feel sick to the pit of my stomach. They are words I have heard before. "I don't like this, I don't like it at all." I tell her and she nods. She can feel it too, something really isn't right here.

"Let's take a closer look." I say and before she can stop me, I'm already over the edge. I hear her gasp and within seconds she's flown down and grabbed me in mid-air, holding me like she's about to carry me over a threshold. She glares furiously at me and I give an innocent smile back.

"What did you do that for? That's reckless, even for you."

"You really do wound me princess. I knew you'd catch me."

"I won't bother next time." She growls but she doesn't let go of me until both her feet are firmly on the ground. Death's also looking at me with disapproval but I ignore him. As soon as she does land, I'm running towards the building and she follows me, both of us covered by the darkness that gathers around the small pools of burnt orange light. I crouch in an alleyway and she does the same. She's so close to me, we are both almost covered by her cloak and her presence is suddenly overwhelming. I want to look at her but I know if I do, she'll feel awkward and move away and right now, that is the last thing I want her to do.

We watch as the men get back in the car and it drives away. Raven looks like she's desperate to follow it but I'm still staring up at the building and the more I do, the bigger the chill I get from it. Something is very wrong here and I'm determined to find the source of it. I dart out from our hiding place the moment the car is out of sight and I run for the building.

"Wait stop!" I hear her say but I'm already at the entrance. I duck underneath the web of scaffolding to make my way in and I can hear her as she clumsily follows me. I hear her knock into something and make a strangled noise and it makes me grin.

"You alright back there princess?" I call back but then something catches my eye that sends my stomach plummeting to the ground. I freeze in place as I stare up at the front of the building. My lungs feel numb and when Raven comes behind me, I barely even notice.

"Kain? What's wrong? Adrien?" She shakes my shoulder before she looks up and I hear her gasping. "No…how could…how could they have built it so quickly?"

I don't know how and I don't have the air in my lungs to answer but the horrible truth is staring us in the face. Above the doorway, hidden by crisscrossing silver poles and a draping shroud like something from a tomb is a glaring sign marked with bulbs of neon that hasn't been lit yet. It reads The Jump City Hotel.


	8. Chapter 8

"Guys, are you seeing this?" I ask as I hold up my communicator to the dark sign, the light from its face illuminating it and filling me with even more dread. I could sense there was something bad about this place the moment I started following Kain down here and it feels sickening that I've been proved right yet again. The whole empty building seems to scream doom and destruction and there's a part of me that wants to tear it to pieces. Instead, I focus on showing my friends on the other side of the communicator what we have discovered whilst my other hand grips Kain's shoulder. He hasn't spoken since he clapped eyes on the sign and I can feel his body shuddering, like my hand is the only thing keeping him up. I can't even begin to imagine what is going through his mind right now and it pains me. All I can do is try to comfort him and hold him up but my efforts feel almost pointless, like pouring a drop of oil onto a giant wound.

"Yeah, I can see it," Cyborg's voice rings through the gloom. "And I really don't like it."

"I cannot believe it!" Starfire gasps from behind him. "This is most awful!"

"How did they get this place built so quickly?" Beast Boy echoes, his voice the loudest and the most bewildered in the emptiness. "That can't be right!"

"That means it probably won't be right." I hear Robin say and I can tell he's talking through clenched teeth. He's angry, I can tell, his voice is seething like he's wrestling with it. "Raven, we did some digging on the background of this Zane guy. None of it looks good; he's got a pretty murky past and all his business deals seem vague, money disappearing into strange places nobody can trace…it doesn't look good."

I'm hardly surprised. "What kind of deals?"

"We're not entirely sure." Cyborg says and he sounds frustrated. "I'm trying to dig up anything but this guy is pretty hard to trace. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack that's inside Fort Knox. It's suspicious though…really suspicious."

"Right." I say. I want to get out of here; the place is creepy and I can feel fear tingling up my spine. "We're going to head back now, we'll talk about this more at the Tower. Raven out." I snap the communicator shut and kneel in front of Kain. He's still staring up at the sign but his eyes are glassy like he's seeing something in another world. The pain coming from him is intense and I can sense its all-consuming nature. I'm almost burning with it as I touch his cheeks gently with my fingers, cupping his face to try and get him to look at me.

"Kain? Adrian? Can you hear me? Please say something. We have to go, we have to leave this place now. Adrian, please…"

"H-how?" He chokes out and the single word is heart-breaking. "How could this…"

"I don't know." I tell him and he finally seems to see me. His hands cover my own and he holds them there as his body heaves with the effort it is taking him to breathe. "I don't know Adrian but we need to leave. When we get back to the Tower, we can think of something to-"

I stop and we both turn our heads as the sound of an engine suddenly flares up outside and the blinding flash of headlights destroys the darkness. Tyres scream as a giant car comes screeching to a halt and angry voices start yelling amongst the sound of car doors slamming. This snaps Kain back to reality and he whips his head around to try and see what's going on.

"Run!" He hisses at me and before I can respond, he's grabbed my wrist and dragged me into the building. I try to pull back but he dives behind a large lump of crates, pulling me down with him. I land on top of him and we suddenly freeze, almost nose to nose before I start trying to wriggle away.

"What are you-"

"Shush!" He whispers and the urgency in his voice makes me stop moving. "That car…it was the same one that just left, I only saw it for a second but it's the same. We couldn't have been spotted here Raven, not if those people are anything like I think they are."

His eyes are surprisingly calm and I drink them in as I stare at him. "What do you think they came back for?" I ask but the door suddenly flies open and he pulls me closer to him. The small space is cramped and I'm practically lying on him like a blanket as we listen to the sound of heavy footsteps march inside. There's a few more angry shouts and a couple of curses before the voices fall silent and they are replaced by the scraping of chairs across the ground and grumblings as people sit around a table. I tremble when I realise they aren't going anywhere; we're stuck here until they leave or we are discovered. He must have felt me shudder as he draws his arms further around me, tugging me into the space until it seems like there is no part of me that isn't touching him or the wall. His breath is on my cheek and the warmth is surprisingly comforting.

We listen as a somebody clears their throat and a voice starts to speak. "So, what are we doing today, boys?" The voice was nasally and had a very thick Russian accent.

"Same old, same old." Another voice replied. This one was deeper and had a distinctly American twang though it was obvious he wasn't from Jump. "We've just got our regular orders from Mr Z; get his money to the Brotherhood like we always do. Oh and we need to get this place set up for them too. He wouldn't like it if the place wasn't welcoming for their stay."

Brotherhood? Stay? If this was the Brotherhood I was thinking of, this couldn't be good. My lungs felt like they were made of iron as a third voice spoke up. This one did have a Jump City ring to it and the male voice had a surprising smoothness. Multi-national mobsters. Who knew we had so many in our city.

"I can't believe this is our last meeting in this place. Almost makes you sentimental, you know?"

"Oh I have the same feeling." The second voice spoke up again with a chuckle. "Still I doubt I'll miss it. I know they were building it to fall but honestly would it have killed them to make it a little less damp?"

They all laughed but my head was spinning. Built to fall? What did that mean? I must have made some sort of noise as a hand winds its way over my mouth and gently holds my lips shut. The feeling of him is all around me and there's a part of me that is drinking every part of it in. Instead I focus in on the conversation again as the laughter dies down and a fourth voice adds itself to the mix.

"If you ask me, I'll be glad to see it go." This voice was a lot harsher and the accent was Eastern European though I couldn't pinpoint where. "We all know that when this place falls, so will an awful lot of our obstacles."

I could picture the sly grins that they were all giving each other and the third voice pointed out "Yeah, everything will be so much easier with all the Jump elite gone. All in one fell swoop too."

"It's a plan only Mr Z could come up with," The first voice went gleefully. "And one only he could get away with."

"Who else could hold a candle to him?" The second voice rang out and there was the sound of glass clinking. "Here's to Mr Z, the guy with the biggest balls in all of Jump City!"

"Hear, hear!" The others cried out and they all barked with laughter again. I could feel Kain tense up against me and I got why. These guys were essentially planning another Gotham Hotel Disaster and it sounded like the death toll would be even greater. I reached my hand up to touch his face in what I hoped was a comforting way and he seemed to lean into it. I could feel his heartbeat drumming into me and I knew he could feel mine. If I wasn't feeling so scared, I probably would have been reeling at the intimacy of it.

"So how do we get this place ready for our honoured guests?" The third voice spoke up again and there was sarcasm laced in his bitter tone. "We're not painters and decorators!"

"Calm down, there's not much that can be done." The fourth voice said quietly and the others all stopped to listen. "Just get rid of some of the rubbish that's around this place. Like…that pile of crates for example. That doesn't need to be here, those things are empty anyway so just trash them."

My blood feels like it is running cold and I feel Kain's grip on me tighten. "Raven…" He breathes urgently to me but before he can say anything else, there's a loud cry from behind me and I'm suddenly torn from him and hauled to my feet. I'm lifted into the air by my cloak and it gathers around my neck, making me gasp for air as I'm dragged across the room. I try to fight but two pairs of strong hands grab my body, holding me in place as another meaty hand smacks itself on my mouth, preventing me from saying my usual spell. I can hear Kain yelling my name but I can see he's been forced out of the corner and is being pinned against the wall. Then my vision is suddenly blocked by a blocky leering face and I recognise the voice of the Eastern European. He must be the head of their little group by the way he's looking and gesturing at the others. He nods and they force me to look at him. He flicks his fingers behind his back and there's a dull thud as Kain is slammed against the wall to make him shut up. It works but I can still hear his panting and I know his eyes are on the man who is standing far too close to me for my own comfort.

"Well look who decided to drop in." He grins and I take the moment to try and sum him up. Like all of them, he is a solid tank of a man, built like the typical thugs you see in movies only he is much more dangerous. His hair is short and spiky and coloured a pale brown whilst his small eyes in his brick-shaped head are black and cold. His skin is mottled and scarred and I don't dare think what it must have been through to get like that. He and the other three are all in black overcoats and when he opens his mouth I see a glimmer of gold among the yellow. This guy reeks of trouble and I struggle to get away from how close he is but that only makes him put a disgusting finger on my cheek. "We have a Titan on our hands. My, my, I didn't think we would have such privileged company."

The others laugh bitterly and I can see the glee in their faces. He speaks again, his voice lower and far more deadly in tone. "I didn't think with all the silly villains running around the place, your kind would bother with us." He says. He sharply cocks his head at the guy holding my mouth and he lets me go but before I've even breathed, he's replaced them with his own. Kain lets out a cry from the other side of the room and then I hear him being slammed into the wall again and I wince. "We're the real deal darling, you should be scared." He chuckles as he draws his fingers over my lips, pulling them like he's trying to inspect me. "It's a shame; you're a real pretty one but you know we can't let you or your little friend there live. Still," His face gets really close to mine and I can smell his rancid breath. His thumbs are now on my cheeks and I'm suddenly aware of the other hands gripping my waist and arms. "That doesn't mean we can't have a little fun beforehand does it?"

"Get your hands off of her!" Kain suddenly erupts furiously and the one in front of me whips around, allowing me to see Kain push himself away from the wall and smash his captor into the one behind him. This makes him let go and Kain pulls away, drawing out his gun and smacking him across the face before he can do anything else. The man slumps down the wall with a crack in his skull and his wild eyes are turned towards the three holding me captive. I can see the anger blazing there and the others would have had to be blind not to see it. The Eastern European bends over and draws out a knife and the sudden flash of silver makes me gasp.

"Kai-" I try to cry out in warning as he lunges forward and loosens his grip on my mouth but his fingers are replaced with the first guy's hand again and all I can do is helplessly watch as Kain charges at him like a raging bull. The man raises his knife about to bring it down but Kain dives below his arm and delivers a swift punch to his side. He bellows in pain as he drops the knife and Kain catches it in mid-air before he swings his foot around in a roundhouse kick and it connects with his head. His body plummets to the ground and he turns to motion at the ones holding me.

"Is that really the best you can do?" He taunts them and I can feel their tension at being mocked. I want to ask him what the hell he thinks he is doing but I then get thrown to the side and forgotten as they both run at him. I fall to the floor and heave air into my lungs as I watch the fight in a spellbound horror. His face is set in anger as they approach and he holds the stolen knife out.

I watch as the first one hurls a punch at him, his fist the size of a gorilla's, but Kain deftly leans out of the way and throws a chop down on the arm, just above the elbow. He howls in pain as he retracts his arm but he's already laid himself open and Kain takes full advantage, plunging the knife into his soft gut before kicking him away, leaving a gaping red wound spilling blood, and turning to face the other one. This one tries to be smarter by raining down blows on him but Kain blocks each one and fights back, gaining more ground as he forces his opponent to step back further and further. I hear a groan and I turn to see the Eastern European is slowly struggling back up to his feet and he lunges for him again, his small eyes engulfed with pure rage.

"Kain!" I yell as I finally come to my senses and I shoot out a wave of black that pins him to the wall but I can't concentrate and he forces his way out. "Behind you!"

He hears me and suddenly whirls back to the second guy, kicking him hard in the stomach. This winds him and he bends over wheezing but Kain then brings his knee up to his face and slashes the knife underneath, making a red line across his throat. Then, just as the fourth one leaps for him, he turns on the balls of his feet, graceful as any dancer, and the knife is stabbed straight into his chest. Blood pours out down his chest and he stares at Kain like he can't quite believe what just happened. He lets go of it and the guy topples backwards, giving one last croak before he hits the ground.

For a moment, Kain just stands there, his breathing heavy in the air as he looks about his handiwork. There's blood everywhere and I can see some smeared on his face. It makes me sick and I want to gag but I feel too stunned to do anything. Then he turns and sees me still on the ground and he runs to my side, kneeling down by as he takes my face in his hands.

"Raven! Are you alright?!" He asks and his voice sounds frantic. He pulls his eyes away from my face for a second to examine me and when he's satisfied, he helps me up and holds me close as I wobble unsteadily on my feet. "Did they do anything? Touch anywhere? Raven, speak to me!"

"I'm…I'm fine." I eventually manage to say and he looks relieved. I feel drained but I look around the room at the four bodies and I push him away. "You…you killed them?"

"Urm…" He looks around the room as if it only just occurred to him that stabbing knives into people kills them and then looks back at me. "Yes I did. They were going to hurt you Raven, I couldn't let them do that."

"Are you insane?!" I suddenly rage at him and the fury in my tone even takes me back a little. "How do you think this is going to look? We're meant to be the good guys, we can't kill people! That makes us no better than them!"

"Do you really think they would have extended you the same courtesy?" He takes my arms and pulls me to him so I have no choice but to look into his eyes. His tone is cold and angry but his eyes are looking at me relieved and almost terrified. "Do you think they would have been nice just because you would have been? They were going to do unimaginable things to you Raven and if that had happened…" He squeezes his eyes shut like the thought is physically paining him and one of his hands reaches up to caress my cheek. "I would never have forgiven myself." Then, before I can react, his head leans down and he kisses me, his lips hungrily pressing against mine in a blur of passion and desperation. His hand goes from my cheek to my hair and I find I'm kissing him back, angling my head to deepen it as his mouth scorches mine.

He draws back as quickly as he leaned forwards and his face is unreadable. He then turns his back and walks away, leaving me standing there feeling like my knees are about to give way. "We should get back to the Tower and report on this." I hear him say and I numbly follow him out of the hellish room stained with crimson. He doesn't look at me as we leave the building and arrive back out into the cold night air and as we make our way back, all I can feel is the searing heat on my lips whilst the rest of me is cold and shaking. He doesn't talk, leaving me more confused than before. I knew earlier that I didn't want to do this and it's only now I fully see why. I didn't want to fall for him.


	9. Chapter 9

"The Brotherhood?!" Starfire squeaked, her voice reaching such a high pitch in her panic, I'm certain the only other things who could have made out what she was saying were dogs and dolphins. "They said they were coming to stay here? Are you certain of that?"

"Positive." Raven said. "I really wish it wasn't true but I can remember every detail of that meeting. That's definitely what they said."

There's a slight edge to her voice when she stresses the words 'every detail' that suggests she still hasn't fully forgiven me for the whole getting-angry-and-killing-all-of-them thing. I can see where she's coming from; it's not going to make Mr Zane very happy when he discovers four of his henchmen are dead but I couldn't stop myself. Seeing that excuse for a man put his hands on her and say those disgusting things about her…it made me so furious, it was like a red curtain descended and my rage took over. Just thinking of what could have happened makes my skin crawl but when I think of how I kissed her, I get a completely different feeling, like that all gets washed away and nothing else matters. She hasn't looked me in the eye since we got back and I haven't tried to push her. I didn't try to talk on the way back and she seemed fine with the silence. It feels like we've both been sucked into a whirlwind of confusing emotions and we're waiting for it to spit us out.

But that's not the issue we're currently focusing on. Right now, it's morning and I'm standing in the main room of the Titans Tower as we go over what happened in that building a few hours ago. Or to be more exact, Raven tells them what happened in that building as I stand there awkwardly making the place look untidy. Next to their colourful get-up, I must look like a black stain, a blot of spilled black ink on a beautifully embellished book. To distract myself I look around the room and I must say, there is some decent tech in here; this would be a really good place to just hang out in if there weren't more pressing matters to deal with.

"Kain?" I hear my name and I'm suddenly dragged back into the conversation. I look at them blankly and I hear Robin groan as Raven makes a small sigh.

"Sorry, I was just checking out your tech." I give as an excuse and the groans get louder. "You have some seriously good stuff here, is that-"

"The newest upgrade and the latest Mega Monkeys? Sure is." Beast Boy speaks up proudly and he sounds very excited that someone noticed his giant stash of gaming systems. From what I've seen of him, the boy is a small step away from being a hoarder. "Hey, maybe later I can show you, me and Cyborg need a new opponent…"

"Not now Beast Boy." Robin cuts him short. "Video games can wait until later." Beast Boy's ears droop but they spring back up almost instantly in curiosity when Robin addresses Raven again. "So what happened after they grabbed you?"

I feel the air in my lungs freeze as I look over at Raven's face. Her expression is still calm so I have no idea what she is going to say. We both know what happened after that; I went on a rampage and killed those four guys with their own stupid knife. I close my eyes as I wait for the surge of anger about to be aimed at me but it doesn't come.

"They grabbed me and Kain but he managed to fight his way out of their grip," She says in a complete monotone and I look at her in shock. "He then fought the guys holding me off and we escaped. There were four of them but I don't think Mr Zane will be happy with them. I wouldn't be surprised if they were still there."

Her last sentence nearly floors me. Not only did she not throw me under the bus and probably get me locked up again but she passed off the blame so nobody would think that it was me. After all, we are the only two witnesses now; dead men tell no tales. And who's going to doubt the word of a Titan?

I want to get down on bended knee and thank her from the bottom of my heart but instead I stand there and silently watch Robin's reaction. He ponders this information for a few moments before he asks another question. "So do you have any inkling of what his plan could be or how the Brotherhood are linked to this? I had hoped Paris was the last of it."

"No, I have no idea." She answers smoothly. "Believe me, I wish that was the case as well. All I know is what I told you. Now I don't mean to be rude, but could I please leave? It's been a long night and I'm emotionally drained right now-I really need to meditate."

"Of course Raven, take as long as you need. We don't have any more questions for you anyway." Robin tells her and his voice is softer. She smiles gratefully at him as she gets up, her cloak swishing down to the ground from where it had been pooling around her knees.

"Do you want some tea sent up?" Cyborg asks her as she walks away. "Or some food, I could make you some of my speciality waffles…"

"Thanks Cyborg but no thanks." She says quietly as she leaves through the sliding door without a glance back. I look back around at the rest of them and I see they are staring at me. Without Raven there, I suddenly feel unprotected. Rats. How did I get into this mess? Maybe I should say I need to meditate too…

"Hey," Robin says gruffly and I almost brace myself for a punch. "Thanks."

Thanks? Now that was something I wasn't prepared for. I look at them all again and I realise that although they are all staring, there's no hostility in their eyes anymore. Did I somehow walk into a parallel universe?

"We're being serious." Robin says. Some of my surprise must have shown on my face. "We would never have looked into this if it hadn't been for you; it's only because of your information that we're prepared for this. And Raven told us how you saved her from those guys, if she had been alone…" They all look solemn and Cyborg's fists clench. "Anyway we wanted to show you that we don't consider you a threat anymore. From now on, you are one of us."

He holds out his hand and a flash of bright yellow blinds me. Almost on instinct I reach out and take it, feeling the plastic rolling into my gloved hand. It slots into my palm like it belongs there. I look down and am greeted by a big white T in a hexagon. It's a communicator, or as I like to think of them their pimped-out walkie-talkies.

"Congratulations," Robin goes as the other three beam behind him and I almost pinch myself when I see his mouth twist into a genuine smile. I wonder if it hurts. "You're an Honorary Titan now."

"Can you believe this?" I say to Death as I toss the communicator up into the air, watching the light dance on it as it spins back down into my hand. I'm sitting on the edge of the rooftop on top of this giant gimmick they call a home and the day is dragging by. I had wanted to go see Raven and talk to her but Beast Boy warned me from it. He said it's best to give her some alone time and I can get that; there are times other people are just too much, especially when you are so different and I don't think she wants to see me anyway. So I came up here; rooftops always did feel like my second home. "Me, an Honorary Titan. Who would have thought it? It wasn't long ago they had me in a cell."

"I know," Death says, an amused chuckle escaping the folds of his pale lips. He's standing in the daylight, between me and the sun, and the light is catching the dark folds of his cloak and making them shimmer and go almost transparent. He looks almost like a floating disco ball and I want to tell him but I did that last time we were out in daylight and he didn't speak to me for the rest of the day. I wouldn't usually be afraid of that but I need some company right now. I need to talk, even if all I'm saying is rubbish. "They really must be desperate."

"Shut up." I tell him, chuckling my new communicator back up into the air and catching it again. "You heard them, right? They were thanking me." I look back across the ocean that looks so smooth it reminds me of a pane of glass and I sigh. "I wish I could have heard it from her though. Back in that room…she seemed so aloof again, like she did that first time."

"I know, I was there, remember?" He says but I feel him floating closer to me. "You really like her, don't you?"

I sigh as I press the communicator between my fingers. I would lie but Death knows me far too well; he would see right through me like I was made of the air around us. "I do like her." I finally admit. "There's no one else I've ever met like her, like me. She's so full of darkness yet she's so good and noble and…although she doesn't show it, there's so much kindness in her. She's everything I could be I guess but I just can't conquer the darkness at all. Why the heck would she even care?" I stare over the sea and the sunlight burns at my eyeballs.

"Who says you are filled with darkness?" Death asks, sitting himself next to me on the ledge so the folds of smoky black flutter in the air like the wings of tiny birds.

I look at him with a raised eyebrow. "I am Death's damn sidekick. How can I not be evil?"

"Death isn't evil." He says and his tone is weary but also wise. He's looking over the ocean but his eyes are faded like he is seeing something far beyond the horizon. "It's just the natural part of a cycle; where there is life, there has to be death. You humans used to recognise that. You used to see it as something eventual, almost beautiful, and you would celebrate it. Now you demonise it, it is something you fear in your modern society. Where she comes from, there is true darkness, full of pure evil but there is no darkness surrounding death, I would only call it the absence of light. Those are two very different things." He looks back at me and his face is unreadable. "Do you think I am evil?"

"No!" I instantly blurt out and he looks at me with his typical amused gaze. "Erm…no. You're just a guy doing his job. You don't kill people: you just deal with the aftermath."

"Then you can't be either." He goes with a smile on his face. "I know you are going to argue you have killed but so have many people and governments in this world-death is just one form of justice that many do not like to use." He smirks and I smirk back; we both know it's one we've used on many occasions. "I've been around a long time Adrian and I've seen billions of souls pass through my hands, souls I wanted to talk to and reassure but couldn't. Some of them truly wre dark and it felt wrong just to hold them in my hands. Humans are very strange but they have taught me something; everyone has the capacity to change and they will change no matter if they want to or not. And I'll tell you this Adrian," His voice is serious now and he's looking at me so it feels like he is looking right at my soul. "That day when I was holding your soul in my hands and it was still fighting…I have never seen a soul like yours. Yes, it is imperfect but you are truly full of light even if you won't see it. That is why you were resurrected, you still had too much to do. So do not think of yourself as unworthy."

A smile creeps across my face. "Is that your way of saying go get her tiger?"

He smiles back and we both laugh, rocking backwards and forwards on the ledge like we might suddenly tip off. "Well…a bit." He admits, clutching his stomach as he chortles. "But seriously, you do get what I'm saying don't you?"

I look over at him before I nod, a giant grin now on my mask-less face. "I do, my old friend. I do."


	10. Chapter 10

I can't concentrate. I squeeze my eyes shut as I press the tips of my fingers close together, trying to get the familiar waves of calm I usually get when I meditate roll over me and wash everything clean from my mind, but it just isn't working. I sigh as I realise I'm going to be denied my peace just when I need it most. My emotions feel all jumbled-up inside me and my stomach feels full of knots that keep shifting form, like snakes slithering all over each other. No matter how much I try, my thoughts keep returning to him. It's like he's taken root in my mind and I can't dig him back out. Whenever I close my eyes and let my mind wander it always goes back to the memory of his smile and it is so vivid, it feels like his presence is in the room. I sigh again, louder this time so the sound echoes in the room. What have I done to deserve this?

I open my eyes and they take a moment to adjust to the darkness. I have always kept my room in the perfect conditions to meditate so I can easily when I need to but I fear in my desperation for calm, I may have overdone it. I usually make my room dark but right now it is so pitch black I can't make out my hand when I hold it in front of my face. I normally burn some incense as the smell is so relaxing but today I have four plates of it smouldering around me and the smell is suffocating. I cough at its thickness, stirring the still air, and I uncross my legs from the lotus position I was in. My mind was so full, I couldn't even levitate and that is a worrying thought. How has he done this to me? I fumble around in the inky blackness and light some candles, guided only by feel. The flames welcomely flicker into life all around me and bathe the room in their comforting glow. My eyes go to my bookcases and I smile at my collection of leather-bound volumes. Maybe I should read some of my books to distract myself. I'm sure the words will chase away any thoughts of him.

I take one randomly and open it and, for a while, it works. It's a book of old myths and legends, one I haven't read for a long time, and I let myself be transported to its world, where hideous monsters are slain by brave warriors in the name of their loves, where everything is clear-cut over who the good guys and the bad guys are. Then I get to one legend near the end of the book, one that had completely escaped my mind.

In this story, a man went to pursue a monster, just like in all the other stories but the monster found his village first and destroyed it whilst he was gone. When he came back, he begged to die with them but instead he was given a power, a power that would allow him to finally destroy the monster but it came at a deadly price for it meant that he too created destruction where ever he went. There was an illustration, beautifully done in dark inks, that showed this man walking with death and decay at his heels and it makes me sick. The hollow eyes, the drawn-out limbs…it all strikes too close to home and I slam the book shut and press my face into the cover. The leather has a comforting smell and feel but I'm on the verge of weeping. This was the last thing I wanted to do yet I know it is already too late. Why did I have to go back and talk to him when he was in that cell? I lament in my own mind. Maybe if I hadn't I wouldn't be in this mess.

He's unlike anyone I've ever known because he is such an enigma. I'm so drawn to him, like a moth to a flame, yet at the same time my instincts tell me to back away. He's a murderer, he does nothing to hide that fact and he killed four people right before my eyes, yet he still has a sense of justice and there is nothing wrong with his morals-he just deals with it differently. Am I just making excuses for him? I don't know anymore but I do know I stuck up for him so I can't believe he is all bad. He's not bad, he just comes from a bad situation. Kind of how I did. We're the same but different. There's a bitter taste in my mouth and I toss the book away. It's just like he said-we have one foot in one world and one foot in another. We're both in the same boat but at the same time on other sides of the ocean. Fate can be twisted at times.

I hear a sudden knock at the door and it jolts me out of my miserable state. It's probably Beast Boy with a message from Robin about the case or maybe Cyborg 'forgot' that I didn't want waffles. I admit, I wouldn't mind one right now. I do love them a lot, more than life itself at times.

"Hold on." I call out as I get to my feet and step over to the door. My legs feel stiff, they haven't quite recovered from their numbness so my steps are a little uneven as I gain my composure. I open the door and I almost spring back like I had been electrocuted. Standing there, without his mask on and his soft brown eyes staring into mine, is Kain. He looks at me sheepishly and my hand suddenly grips the doorway. This was the last thing I needed, why did it have to be him…

"Hey," He says and I can see this is just as awkward for him as it is for me. "Is…is this a bad time? Beast Boy said you don't usually like to be disturbed when you're in your room but this is an emergency."

"No…it's fine." I answer, waving his concerns away. There wasn't really going to be a better one any time soon. "What's happened?"

"It's just… we've figured out what Zane's plan is and it's bad. Like really, really bad." He said and I almost eye roll at how childish he sounds but his expression makes me stop. "We were going through the hotel bookings the hotel has on the night of its grand opening-every room has somebody from the Jump City elite in there. Celebrities, politicians, every single room has at least one. Plus, Cyborg was looking at the blueprints. The mistakes on there…" He sucked his breath in and I feel a pang of his pain; I can only imagine what this is doing to him. "They aren't accidental. Nothing like that could be a mistake, no decent architect could make something like that. You know what that means, don't you?" I shake my head, even though I do know and it sends a chill running down my spine. "That place was built to fall and it's going to take a lot of people with it. And that's not even the worst part. The place the Brotherhood was going to stay at? It's across the street in one of Zane's personal apartments. The Brotherhood…they are going to come and watch."

"What?" My voice comes out as a strangled squeak and my hand is gripping the door so tightly, my knuckles are white. "That can't be true…"

"I'm sorry to say it is." His words are short and anger flashes in his eyes. I reach out and put my hand on his shoulder to comfort him, causing me to step just out of the safety of my room. He doesn't flinch but he still looked surprised at the touch. He looks me in the eyes and it suddenly feels too close, too intimate. I drop my hand just before I speak.

"So what's going to happen now?"

"We're going to bring it down. Tonight, before anyone can get hurt." He tells me. "Robin's still working out the kinks but I know he'll do it. The guy certainly isn't a bird brain, I'll give him that. And I'm sure Cyborg has something up his sleeve or robot armour…does he wear clothes? I'd ask him but that might sound weird."

"Just a little bit." I chuckle and for a brief moment, the awkwardness goes away. He's smiling at me now and the return of his beaming face makes my heart jump a little. I need to find a way out of this right now...

"I'm sorry." He says and I'm taken aback.

"What? Why are you sorry? You haven't done anything."

"I know I was the last person you wanted to see after…you know…all that stuff at the hotel. I did recommend sending someone else but Robin insisted."

Stuff. He's calling it stuff. His hand has gone to the back of his neck and he's rubbing at it like it is a magic lamp. I bite my lip to force back a retort. I want to be angry at him but how can I when he saved me?

"Listen, I know it wasn't the right thing to do and I'm sorry for it. I don't want you to be angry at me Raven. I promise I won't do it again, especially now that I'm a Titan."

"All of it?" I say suddenly and I instantly want to slap my hand over my mouth. What possessed me to say that? I can feel my face going red and I can see his pale cheeks have gone crimson too. That is the problem with both of us being pale; our faces light up like beacons when we are embarrassed and there is no way to hide it. I want to run away now but my feet are rooted to the spot. "I'm sorry, I-"

"What?" he says and his voice is so soft and quiet I have to strain to hear it. "You mean…this?"

Then he leans forwards and his lips are on mine again, softer and gentler than the first time, like he's testing me. They linger there for barely a moment but it's enough to make the world around me stand still. As he leans back, his eyes seem to be glowing and I can see every speck of gold in them.

"Yes…that." I stutter out, my head feeling dizzy. I have to stop this, I have to put an end to it. Me and emotions don't go well, I know that, what if he ends up getting hurt? I can't risk it. "We have to stop this Kain. It can't go on like this. We won't speak of it again."

My voice is cold and blunt, my tone heartless. He keeps a blank face but his eyes have the look of somebody who has just been trampled on and I can't take it. I can't even call him by his name, his real name and that feels like a final blow.

"Raven…"

"I'm sorry." I say before I retreat to the safety and darkness of my room. "Goodbye."

The door closes and I'm encased in my room again, the glow of the candles now feeling almost cold. I slump against the door, my forehead pressed against it as I hear him knock again and call my name. He stops after a few minutes and I can feel water on my face as his footsteps fade down the corridor. I'm shaking as I press my weight against the door as small sobs try to escape me. You did the right thing, I try to tell myself, you did what was best for him and for your team. The only problem is, I don't think it was best for me.


	11. Chapter 11

_Wow, this has been a long time coming... I'm finally at the point I planned all this time ago. I'm sorry this took a while as well, I had my first exam yesterday which made me go to pieces and then I had some issues trying to upload this that also stressed me out… Anyway I hope it is worth it for you all. This is the second to last chapter of this story and this is the longest one yet. Please enjoy!_

This is it. The moment of truth is finally here. I've spent all afternoon planning this with them, wallowing in every single little detail like Robin demanded, and now it has come down to this. That sounds unbelievably cliché, like I'm at the climax of an overdramatic action movie, but it's true, every word of it. The pressure on me feels like I have an elephant riding on my back and I'm terrified of buckling under. Even the voices inside my head are quiet for once, only murmuring a little among each other. They know how big a deal this is. If it works, we save countless lives. If we fail, we doom so many more.

The sky is dark again, the stars and moon barely visible behind dark rolling clouds, and I'm standing on top of a building overlooking the sickening hulk of a hotel we want to bring down. The Titans are all with me, standing in a line like on the front of every comic book and movie poster ever, and they are staring at it with the same loathing as me. I know they are disgusted that a thing like this was allowed into their city and that it is luring in the Brotherhood of Evil. I'd only heard about those guys before in stories that were like legends, ones too crazy to be true, but they've shown me that they are all too real and that is a scary thought. I haven't got the time to dwell on this though. I cock my gun and the sharp noise is reassuring. As long as I have this, I'll be fine.

I take the quiet moment to survey the others. Death is hovering next to me with his usual calm demeanour though I can sense he is anything but. I would almost go as far to say he is worried about me but I also know he was disappointed from what happened earlier. He thinks it will make me do something reckless and, no matter how many times I've told him I'll stick to the plan and won't go in guns blazing, he's still worried. It's touching really, so touching that I can't quite look at him. I don't want to see the worry in his eyes.

Robin is peering around, the white circles of his mask creased into slits as he examines everything. His gaze is so intense, I don't know how the things he is staring at don't burst into flames. I must admit though; I've come to seriously respect him. Starfire is by his side and I can see the fury in those usually tranquil green eyes. She told me something of her origins earlier, that she comes from a warrior race and she's the princess of another planet far away from here. From what I've been told, she is usually so cheerful and smiling but there are no smiles now. Despite her regular sunny attitude, she's seen pain too and none of us want to see more. Cyborg is grim-faced as he handles the device that will make the hotel fall-a silvery lump of metal with gleaming blue wires and a giant button on the top in a box shape that could easily fit in a standard rucksack. It might look like nothing much but I don't even want to think about the insane amount of power he's packed in there. Even he sounded a little worried when he talked us all through it earlier.

"When this big button on the top is pressed," he told us, reaching out his hand like he was going to slam it, making everyone flinch and Beast Boy jump backwards. He really doesn't lose his sense of humour under pressure. "This device will send out several short bursts of shockwaves that will be very powerful and contained. If this is planted in the centre of the ground floor of the hotel, the walls will collapse inwardly, vastly lowering the chances of civilian casualties." He was explaining it calmly, like a teacher giving any old lecture, but the panic in his eyes was evident. That didn't help to raise my spirits, I'll admit, though I doubt anything could right now.

As Cyborg gently moves the device further back from the edge, adjusting the straps he tied around it so it could easily be carried on someone's back, he looks like he's keeping an eye on Beast Boy who's trying to look relaxed but his constant twitching and jumpiness gives him away. They've never had to do anything like this and it is worrying them. I especially can't blame Beast Boy, he's barely more than a kid. He was showing off his powers earlier, transforming into all these different animals and some extinct ones too, and when he told me how he got his powers and his story, it just felt like a cruel joke on the part of fate. I've learned so much about them all today, about their origins and how they ended up becoming a team against the odds, but it only seemed to open up more questions than it answered. We all have our horror stories and t really makes you think.

Lastly, on the very end of the row in the position farthest away from me, is Raven. She's standing there, looking calm and collected as always but I can tell from the way she's biting her lip that there's a storm raging inside her mind. I wonder if that is because of what we are about to do or whether it was caused by me. I grimace when I think of that scene outside her bedroom. I had planned to be so smooth and casual, the way I used to be around girls but the moment I spoke, it all went downhill. Her shutting me down like that, wanting to pretend it never happened…it felt cold, like she had stabbed me in the heart with an icicle. There's a part of me that thinks I should just let it go but I can't. I know she feels the same way, I felt it when she kissed me back after the fight at the hotel, and I can see from the way she's holding herself that she's holding back. The only thing is, I can't imagine why.

"OK, Titans," Robin suddenly addresses us all, shaking me from my thoughts. "Everything looks good to move out. We only have one chance at this and it's a big risk on our part. This cannot be allowed to fail, got it?"

We all nod and I can see the beads of sweat on his forehead, despite the cool air. If any part of this goes wrong, there could be serious consequences for them all. Everyone knows how serious this is and I growl when I think of the possibility that this chance goes to waste.

"Right, here's the plan," Robin says, his eyes still constantly scanning the place. "The building should be empty but there is still a risk of Zane's thugs being inside. Starfire and I will be going in from the left and going in from that window there." He pointed at an open window on one of the higher floors that I realised would be a good sniper position. I guess old habits die hard. "Cyborg and Beast Boy, you're doing the same from the right. Meanwhile Kain and Raven are going in from the front. Your job will be to position the device and then wait for our signal that the building is empty. Once it is, you press the button and Raven will teleport you both out before it starts. Then we meet back here. Any questions?"

"Yeah, why are you trusting me with the bomb?" They all turn to look at me and I'm glad I'm wearing my black mask else they would see my face burning. "Surely one of you guys should do it, I'm the newbie here…"

"You're also the only one who has a history with this kind of thing." Robin cut in over me. "None of us know the consequences quite like you do. Believe me, I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think you could." To my surprise, he then gave me a wry smile. "Why, you're not backing out on me now, are you?"

I grinned back. "No chance birdy, I'm in." The others, except Raven, all looked over and grinned and I finally felt like part of their team. "It has a sort of poetic justice to it."

"Exactly. Now let's move out. Titans go!" Robin gave one last call before Starfire grabbed him under the arms and they both flew away. We watched as they reached the window and she hurled him inside, turning back to give a quick thumbs-up before she joined him.

"Right, that's our cue." Cyborg said before he turned to me and held out the device. "Hey, try not to shake it too much, I don't want it blasting us when we're all still inside." He said jokingly as I took it and strapped it firmly to my back.

"Yeah, that would not be cool dude." Beast Boy added and that made me laugh.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said. "Now get outta here, you two have a job to do."

"Since when did I take orders from you?" He shot back but Beast Boy next to him hastily turned into a pterodactyl and he willingly clung on as he prepared to fly off. "Don't screw this up." I only just heard his parting words before they both swooped away. I saw them both reach the window and enter easily. Not all we could do was wait for his signal.

That left me and Raven alone on the roof. The cool air now feels icy on my skin and I struggle to keep looking ahead. The weight on my back suddenly feels ten times as heavy as I try not to look over at her. I wonder, is she doing the same with me? I lose the fight and my eyes glance over. She's looking up at the window, her arms crossed like she is bored, but there is tension in her muscles as she wavers on the side of the building. Her eyes are narrow slits as she glares into the night and I can't see any of the purple. They flick over to me and then instantly back. She shifts her stance and I can see her hand tremble. She's just as scared as the rest of us.

"There's the signal." She tells me bluntly as I whirl my head up to the window. Sure enough, Beast Boy is sitting on the ledge in the form of a green crow and he caws twice. That sets my jaw. Before we set out, we had agreed one caw for empty, two for Zane's crooks being inside. That means we'll have to be doubly careful. "Let's move."

She tips forwards at the same time I do and we fall synchronised. Like before, she grabs me to stop me crushing my skull on the ground below but this time there's no panic, only a sense of duty. I take off in a run as quickly as I land and she follows me silently so it feels almost like a second Death is on my tail. I dash into the hallway and I'm relieved to find it empty. I didn't want to start with a fight.

"OK Raven, where to?" I ask her as I again ready my gun. "Where do I need to put this thing?"

"It should be just up there." She tells me, pointing at a door that appears to almost hide away in the corner. "If we go through there we should find it easily. There will be rooms back there so we'll just need to plant it in the corridor then wait."

"Got it." I affirmed, already making my way to the door and shuddering. "I'll be glad when this place is gone."

I grab the knocker and look around only to see she's looking around the room wistfully. "Are you coming or what?" I bark at her more harshly than I intended and she looks round startled before she shakes her head and follows me.

"Sorry, we need to move." She says softly as she passes and we both make our way through. I run after her as she flies before me and it feels almost like old times, though now I don't dare to tell her to slow down. We make our way through dark corridor after dark corridor and there are so many sharp corners and random dead ends that I feel like I'm in a giant mousetrap.

"What the heck is up with this place?" I grumble angrily as again she dives to the left and I have to swerve very hard to avoid crashing into the wall. "It's like they didn't want anybody to leave this place."

"They didn't." She reminds me sharply and again, I'm reminded of the heinous plan Jacob Zane intended this building for. There's a part of me that rages I should've killed him when I had the chance but I know better than that. That would have only got me thrown back in that cell and then the Titans would have never listened to me and we would never have figured this out. That's all I can hold onto right now.

"Here." She abruptly halts and I crash into her, sending us both sprawling to the ground. I'm tangled up in her cloak and I get up very gingerly as she slowly rights herself, careful of the device on my back that spells the doom of this place. Her face is crimson and I imagine mine is too. "Are you alright?" I ask her and she brushes off my concern with a flick of her hand and a nod.

"That was my fault, I should have given more warning." She says, not quite looking me in the eye. "Now let's get this thing off your back. Put it right here."

"Right." I say quickly as I follow her orders, gently pulling the straps from my shoulders and positioning the device so it stands upright in the centre of the corridor. She helps me to hold it steady as we balance it and for a brief second, her hands skim over both of mine so softly they might have been passing feathers on a breeze. She hastily withdraws them, like my skin is hot as magma, and I resist the urge to grab them back.

"OK," She whispers. She sounds like she is trying to steady her breath but I don't comment. "Now all we can do is wait."

"Aw, how sweet, you were waiting for us?" A snarky voice spoke from behind us and we both went still. We both turned our heads slowly and I felt my stomach drop when we saw the group behind us. There were about half a dozen men standing there, all of them tall and thuggish with leering grins that we could see gleaming in the dimness. They were all in dark clothing and all brandishing knives that were half the length of their thick muscular arms. I felt Raven stiffen beside me and I instantly put my arm out in front of her. She stared at me but I ignored her and focused on the thugs in front of us, my breathing feeling strained. This was the last thing we wanted to happen, the worst case scenario and it couldn't have come at a worse time.

"Yeah, we weren't expecting this many though," I shot back at their leader, the one who had spoken earlier. He stood at the head and he looked the nastiest hands down. There was a long thin scar running down the length of his face and his lip was curled in a deadly sneer. He held a knife in each hand and, by the way he was twirling them between his fingers, he looked like he knew how to use them. "Zane not got anything better for you guys than babysitting a wreck?"

I must have sounded more confident than I felt as the guy's sneer faded and his eyes locked on me murderously. "Easy there, you cocky little twerp," He spat. "Keep your mouth running like that and I'll cut you into five."

"Oh I don't like odd numbers, could you make it six? Or four?" I kept talking because I didn't know what else to do. My mum always said I would one day talk myself into a whole lot of trouble and I seem to be doing a very good job of it right now. "Anyway, could you gents leave us please? We are very busy…"

A knife suddenly flies through the gap between me and Raven, narrowly missing the machine and stabbing itself into the floor. She gives a little gasp and I spin back to see his mouth has twisted into an evil smile that makes me shudder. "Sorry kiddies but we ain't going nowhere." He grins and I slowly stand up. Raven grabs at my sleeve but I push her away.

"Keep that thing upright." I hiss quickly at her and she hurriedly puts both hands on it, her amethyst eyes wide as she looks back at the band of thugs. They get wider when I pull out my gun and hold it by my side. "That's a pity because neither are we." I boldly snap and that's when his thin patience breaks.

"I've had enough of this! Get them!" He bellows and they all charge down the narrow corridor. I fired a few harmless shots into the air-I couldn't kill them, not now I'm a Titan and not in front of her again-but they still came rushing towards us like a tsunami. Behind me, Raven reached out a hand and used her magic as a barrier to hold them back but I could see their knives swiping against it. I landed some punches and kicks in, stopping them from breaking through entirely, but we both knew she couldn't keep them there forever. We had to take a risk.

"Press the button!" I roared over the sound of their battle cries and she stared at me like I had suggested we fly to the moon.

"We can't! Our friends are still in this building, we have to wait for the signal so we know it is safe!" She cried back, getting to her feet as she pushes the shield back down the corridor. "We don't know where they are, they could be too deep in the building to get out!"

I gritted my teeth as the shield went down a little and, seeing a chink in the armour, they started to really rage, scrabbling at it like a pack of wild dogs. Everything she said made sense, we couldn't abandon the rest of the team to god knows what, but we also couldn't keep this up.

"Alright, just try and hold on!" I call out just before another knife comes at me from the darkness. I swerve my head to the side but I still feel it slice along my cheek and a few drops of warm wetness dribble down my jawbone. I'm not focused on that though as I turn my head in horror and watch, almost in slow motion, as it zooms through the air like a bullet and stabs the button on top of the device.

The worlds speeds up again as a booming sound rocks the building and we're all thrown onto the floor. Raven's shield disappears and the thugs are all scrambling to their feet. "Run!" I hear them cawing to each other in panic as they claw and climb over each other as they try to flee like rats escaping from a sinking ship. I try to get up but another wave knocks me to the ground again and I taste blood as I bite the tip of my tongue on impact. I can feel that the building is rocking a little and that sends terror shooting through me. We are right in the middle of this floor and we need to get out now.

"Raven!" I shout with my bleeding tongue as I rear my head again. "Raven!"

I catch sight of her leaning back against the wall, next to the device which is vibrating as it builds power for the next wave. I crawl over to her and see her eyes are closed. I give her a shake and shout her name again, right in her face, but she doesn't wake up. I grab at her wrist in panic but I can feel her pulse. I lift her up and I realise what must have happened. She must have fallen backwards and hit her head against the wall after the first wave. That means she can't teleport us out of here. That means I need to run.

I haul her up and clutch her to my chest as I start to sprint back down the corridor, my mind frantically trying to remember directions. Death flies next to me and yells them out and I can hear the fear in his voice. The building is shaking like a giant jelly and as I reach the hallway I can tell it is moments from crumbling altogether. Have the others got out? Are they OK? I have no idea, all I can do is run for the door. The crashing sounds and the noise of creaking is bringing everything back and I have to consciously fight the flashbacks as I run.

I see the cracks running up the walls towards the ceiling in the shape of lightning bolts and I know it is about to cave in. I'm not going to make it, I know that, but I still try and push myself to run a little bit faster, hold out my body so maybe some part will be spared. I can't let us both die… I hear her murmuring and I look down to see her eyes open and look up at me. If I had had the choice, I could have looked into those eyes forever. It's a shame I won't get the chance again.

"Kain? Adrian?" She whispers groggily and hearing my name somehow only confirms what I'm going to do.

"Goodbye princess. I'm sorry about this." I say and I see how her eyes widen when she hears me. She opens her mouth like she's about to try and stop me but before she can, I've stopped and thrown her as far as I can. I see her sail through the door and land on the pavement outside. That gives me all the peace I need, knowing that she is safe.

I hear Death yelling my name but I don't turn to look at him. I hear the destruction raging behind me as the hulk topples inwards, falling like a house of cards, but again I don't look at it. I just see her as she lets out a gasping cough and turns to look at me, our eyes locking for the briefest of moments.

I don't look up to see what crushes me this time. This time, the end is swift.


	12. Chapter 12

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The word is ripped from my throat as I lay crumpled on the ground outside the hotel as it falls, more rocks crumbling into the black hole where Kain previously stood. My arm is stretched out in front of me like I have a chance of reaching him, my fingers shaking at the realisation of what has just happened. The world around me seems to black out as all I can see is the inside of the building, as more and more wreckage tumbles down like rain and crushes the boy who just saved my life over his own.

My cries are barely heard over the sound of the hotel being destroyed from the outside in. Cyborg's plan had worked perfectly; the hotel is falling inwards like the rubble is forming its own neat little pile ready to be brushed under the carpet. The ground is shaking and the very air around me seems to be rumbling but I'm frozen to the ground. I can feel a layer of dust forming on my skin and feel the dryness of it coating my throat but still I don't move. Maybe there's still a chance, maybe…

A pair of hands suddenly grip me under the arms and my bare legs scrape against the ground as I'm dragged away. "Raven! Are you alright?" Cyborg's voice is full of concern as he pulls me to the other side of the road and my friends all crowd around me in worry. I should be ecstatic that they got out in time but I don't feel anything. My mouth is still open but no sound is coming out. None of their words are registering with me. It's like I'm numb, like I died in that building along with him.

Kain. Adrian. I think his name and suddenly I'm weeping, my sobs coming out as coughs as they rack my throat which is as dry as a desert. The others all stop talking as I howl, except for Robin who puts his hand on my shoulder to steady me.

"I'm sorry." He says, his voice gentle like he's scared his words will shatter me. "We all saw what happened, we all got out the minute we felt the first wave. He proved himself a hero at the end."

"He shouldn't have done that…" I whisper through my hands that have covered my face. "Why…why did he do that…"

There's one last final crash and the air is still. The hotel has finished itself off. The last echo rumbles through the streets as the mess of walls and scaffolding finally is at rest. I look up at the hulking mass of stone and metal and I'm filled with burning hatred. It took Kain away from me. I won't let this wreckage be his tomb, I won't let it be his last resting place.

I stand up and walk over to it, still a little unsteady as my body still doesn't feel like it completely belongs to me. Beast Boy steps forward like he's going to help but Robin holds him back with one arm. He knows me well enough to know that there are some things I just need to do alone. It's one of the things we share. I hold out my hands and I feel the power from my magic rush through my arms, so strong that I have to grit my teeth to control its intensity. Black tendrils shoot out of my hands and grab the nearest lump of concrete, picking it up and placing it neatly in the corner. I then pick up more pieces of the wreckage, working alone as I struggle to keep myself calm. There's a part of me that wants to let myself explode with the anger and grief that is eating at me but I know if I do that, this entire plan to keep it subtle will be ruined. I keep going calmly, occasionally letting a hiccup escape from my lips as a large dent appears in the ruins, a large dent right over where the grand hallway had been.

It takes me forever but I finally reach him. The second I see his face, I almost drop the rock I just moved, only keeping it together for long enough to get it away before I break down. He is unmistakably dead. Almost his entire body has been pinned under this one slab of ceiling and his head is poking out of the end with his neck at an unnatural angle. That means it was broken quickly and his death was quick but that is barely a comfort. I throw the slab to the other side of the rubble pile and the sight of him only gets worse. His body is mangled and torn, his limbs splayed out in odd angles crushed into a crater that fits his shape perfectly. He looks like a bug splatted on a windscreen and I open my mouth to wail but again no sound comes out. It feels like he has taken everything I had inside me with him and now I am an empty vessel. I find myself scrambling over the mess, cutting my legs further to reach him, just so I can touch him like I need to prove to myself that this is really happening. After all that, his hair, though caked with dust, still feels soft and when I tug his mask away, his features are still peaceful. If I couldn't see his body, I would think he could be sleeping and that sends tears pouring down my cheeks. He saved me because he loved me and I loved him but kept him at arm's length because I was scared. All my worries seem pointless now; all I can think of is how miserable I must have made him.

"I'm sorry Adrian," I whisper to him, each word I say feeling like a dagger in my chest. "I was so wrong…"

My tears drip onto his face and I wipe them away with the corner of my cloak. It takes the layers of dust with it as well, leaving my cloak grubby but his face clean. The sight of that lights some sort of determination in me. If I couldn't do right by him when he was alive, the least I can do is do it in death. I owe him that much.

I pick his body up and move it to the pavement, almost to the exact spot I landed when he threw me, and I start to heal him. I know it is pointless, fixing a corpse, but I know I can't leave him like this. I gently position him so his limbs are straight, wincing when I hear the shattered bones cracking as they put back together. His chest rises as I fix his collapsed body and he begins to look like his old self again though his eyes are still closed. None of the others approach me, instead choosing to focus on cleaning up and getting rid of this giant blot in our city and I am grateful for that. I need these last moments with him more than I thought.

I finish and kneel by him, my still-shaking fingers tracing lines over the skin of his face. My little finger brushes his mouth and it feels so cold, I let out a strangled sob. That is what finally drives the truth in; this is not him, this is just the shell of what he once was. Does Death now have him? I try to remember what I saw of him, the murky mess that would linger around him like a constant foggy storm cloud. Kain said they were best friends; I hope he was kind. I wonder if he's still around, cradling his soul like a baby. Is he watching me? Maybe if he is, there could be a sliver of a chance. My arms tensed up as I placed my hands on his chest, like they were bracing themselves but I had no idea what for. It was like I was acting out instructions I had been told were important but couldn't remember. Then, as I leaned all my weight into him, I gritted my teeth and sent as much magic as I could surging into him.

The effect was instant. There was a long bang and a flash of light and before I knew it, I was kneeling in the middle of what felt like a tornado. The air whipped past me at hurricane speeds like it was trying to beat me. It tugged at my body like it was trying to pull me into the sky but I held firm, keeping my hands on his chest as I opened my eyes a crack to see what was happening. Blackness was whirling all around us, not the usual black of my magic, but a wispy thick kind like the darkest of smoke. It kept us trapped from the outside so I couldn't see a thing and I felt fear stab at me but I wasn't going to stop. This only proved there was a chance, that miraculously there was still a chance and I was going to take it, no matter what. I could feel its power burning at my arms but still I pressed on, every ounce of strength I had pouring into him.

"Please," I begged, my voice hoarse from the crying and dust. "Please come back again."

Suddenly I felt a cold hand on my own and I almost jumped back, my head yanking itself upwards jerkily as a puppet to see who was there. There was another figure hunched over Kain on his other side, his head covered with a black hood and the folds of his cloak spread out around him like a pool of water, and when he looked up I gasped when his eyes locked on to mine. I don't know what I had expected Death to look like but it certainly wasn't this. Instead of the scary menacing figure with the curling scythe that so many things present him as, he just looked like a regular man. His skin was pale as marble and there were deep lines around his mouth and eyes that made him look weary. His mouth was in a thin line and as he bent down a little closer to Kain I saw a tuft of grey hair underneath the hood. His fingers on mine felt rough and callused, like the hands of a labourer, and they were as long and white as piano keys. His eyes didn't blink as they searched into mine. They were so dark it looked like he held a corner of space in them, the darkness only marred by the signs of his grief. I saw the way his other hand pressed against Kain's face and it pained my heart.

"Oh Adrian," I heard him mutter. "What am I going to do with you? You stupid idiot…" His voice cracked and he stopped talking, his breath raspy like he was only just containing himself.

"Help him." I said, a little more hope creeping in. "Please, you have to help him…"

"I can't do much," He said. "I already saved him once, I can't do it again the same way. What's happening here…it's all you. You just need to keep going Raven."

"I…don't know if I can." I gasped out. I already felt like I had reached my limit and my arms were trembling as they weakened. I didn't know how much longer I could keep this up.

"I do." He said, his voice heavy with mellow wisdom. "This wouldn't be happening if there wasn't a chance and you know it. Keep going Raven…for your and my sakes as well as his." He took one last sad look down at Kain and he drew his hand away from his face. "Just…keep him out of trouble. For me?" We looked at each other again and we had an understanding. We both cared about this idiot who threw himself into things like a rugby player charging for a try and all we wanted was to see him alive and well.

"I will." I whispered solemnly, making a vow to him, and he gave one last peaceful smile. I felt his hand leave mine and saw him put both to Kain's neck before he disappeared in the fog of smoke and blackness filled my vision. I could feel it all around me, trying to swamp my powers in its roar but I held fast, my fingers gripping at him like I would never let go.

"Please…" I started crying out, my voice unheard in the inky storm around me but still I yelled in the brief chance that he would hear me. "Please…Kain…Adrian…Come back to me."

Suddenly there was another bang then everything went still. The wind around me stopped and the silence seemed to swallow me up. I didn't dare move, not opening my eyes in case something had gone badly wrong until I felt his chest heave under my hands. I opened my eyes as I heard spluttering and loud coughing and looked down, my limbs still shaking as I couldn't believe it. Kain's body was stirring, a low grumbling echoing from his chest as he raised his hand to his eyes like a teenager just woken up by an alarm. He coughed and heaved some more as I gently helped him into a sitting position before he finally opened his eyes. The soft brownness, once again flooded with warmth, looked around confused before they settled on my tear-streaked face that was burning with my own smile.

"Raven?" He croaked out. "What happened, I swore I…" he looked behind me at the wreckage where my friends were standing, staring at us with gaping mouths. I hadn't realised they were there and I realised suddenly they must not have a clue what just happened. I was going to have to do a lot of explaining later but for now, I was only focused on him. "I thought you…I…"

"You did." I said softly, my voice finally coming back in a croak not to dissimilar from his after all the yelling I had done.

"I did?" He repeated before he started wildly looking around. "Holy crap…wait…Death? Where, where'd he go?" He held his hand up to his ears like he had never realised they were there and only I heard him whisper "They've gone. The voices…they're all gone."

It's only then when everything seems to sink in and he holds his head behind his hands like it might split. "He did it again." He says softly, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "He did all that for me…he said he couldn't do it again…"

"He couldn't, not on his own." I rest my hands over his and he stares at them, realisation dawning over his confused face. "He had to have some help."

"You…you did this?" He murmurs in amazement as he looks back down at himself, hardly daring to believe that he has died and been resurrected twice. "But…how? Why?"

"I still don't know how." I answered honestly, a little laugh seeping into my voice. It was the truth; I knew nothing of Death's powers and I got the sense he didn't want to find out more. He does his job and nothing more, making an exception only for the boy in front of me. I feel my own tears pricking at my eyes and I suddenly throw my arms around his neck. "And I didn't want to lose you, you idiot."

I loosen my hold a little to gently press a kiss to his cheek. The smile that lights up his face is practically glowing as he pecks me back and wraps his arms around me, hugging me tighter than I've allowed anyone to before as I press my head to his neck and laugh like a crazy person. We both shakily stand up, still wound around each other like two tangled bits of string and I can see that spark in his eye is back.

"So…" He starts, looking back at the other members of my team who look even more shell-shocked than before if that is possible. "Am I still going to be allowed in the Titans? Even without my powers?"

"I'm sure we can still let you in," I answered. "Robin doesn't have them and he's our leader."

"True, very true. Maybe I should go after his spot." He muses comically and I smile and shake my head before I ask him a more serious question.

"Do you think you'll miss your powers? Miss…being like that?"

"I'll miss Death." He says and he looks around sadly. "Wow, that's something I never thought I would say. I was just getting used to you, moron." He calls out to the empty street. I somehow hope he is there and listening, that smile back on his face. "But apart from that, there weren't many perks. I'm just gonna look to the future now. That alright with you, princess?"

He grins and I roll my eyes though I don't go to correct him. I'm almost used to the name and, although I'll never tell him, it's kinda sweet. He's still unsteady on his feet so I bear his weight as we walk over to our friends who come rushing over to meet us in a babble of questions. Just before they reach us, he looks over at me and we share a smile. I never thought I could be like this, so happy with another person it feels like I could burst. Maybe being wrong once in a while isn't so bad after all.

 _And that's all! Wow, I honestly never expected this story to be this long, I just kept writing and writing and now this is it. Thank you to all of you who followed, favourited and reviewed, it was so nice to see and I hope you all enjoyed this story as much as I did. CursedRedRose out_


End file.
